It Happened in Rutland

Following The Crossover That Wasn’t, the characters from the Marvel Universe and their fellow superheroes from the DC Universe came one step closer to meeting in an unofficial crossover event that found them in the same place at the same time, though they never actually crossed paths with each other. The time was Halloween and the place was Rutland, Vermont, which is known for its annual parade in honor of All-Hallows Eve.

Rutland and its Halloween Parade had already been featured in stories by both companies in previous years, but this time it was clear that a single story wove through issues of Justice League of America, Thor, and Amazing Adventures. The common thread is a sub-plot featuring four real-life comic book creators, writers Steve Englehart, Gerry Conway, and Len Wein and colorist Glynis Wein, who travel to Rutland for the parade and get caught up in the paranormal events that ensue.

However, when studying the overall flow of time in the Marvel Universe, continuity-pioneer George Olshevsky realized that the Rutland Halloween story with the Defenders in Marvel Feature #2 must have happened simultaneously as well, adding yet another layer to the already complex storyline. Fortunately, all the overlapping stories can be blended seamlessly, which I have endeavored to do here.

Though unstated, the semi-crossover was made possible by a dimensional convergence -- in effect, the Rutland in the Marvel Universe fused with the Rutland in the DC Universe for a little over 24 hours. Direct dimensional counterparts -- such as the two sets of Steve, Gerry, Len, and Glynis, as well as Roy Thomas and his wife Jeanie and parade organizer Tom Fagan -- merged upon entering the zone of convergence. They would have shared memories of both the Avengers and the Justice League, and it would have seemed perfectly normal, for as long as the convergence lasted. When the convergence finally collapsed, reality righted itself and the people involved were none the wiser.

Here, then, is the full and complete story of the craziest Rutland, Vermont Halloween Parade ever held:



On the evening of October 27th, on the outskirts of Rutland, Vermont, two boys are fishing in Otter Creek when they witness a large meteorite crash into the earth with a tremendous explosion. Curious, the boys approach the site of the impact and discover what appear to be large chunks of amber. However, when the shadowy figure of a man emerges from the smoldering rocks, the boys flee in a panic. The man is Loki, the Asgardian trickster, and he immediately sets into motion his latest scheme of revenge against his half-brother Thor.

Loki fires a bolt of eldritch energy from his hands into the sky. It arcs across the North American continent all the way to the west coast, where it revives the Absorbing Man, who has been trapped for about a year following a battle with the Hulk. Once free, the Absorbing Man is driven by voices in his head to make his way to New York City.

Loki, meanwhile, comes upon the remote home of the reclusive Tom Fagan, where he poses as a poor, lost traveler to take advantage of Tom’s good nature. Since Tom has stocked up on food and drinks for his coming Halloween party, he offers Loki a meal. Once inside the house, though, Loki ensorcells Tom and makes him his unwitting servant.


The Absorbing Man reaches New York by the evening of October 29th, where he challenges Thor to a fight. But, after knocking each other around the city streets for a little while, the Absorbing Man abandons the battle and is magically transported to Rutland, where the voices in his head drive him toward Tom Fagan’s house. There he meets Loki and learns of his plans to finally destroy Thor.


All day on October 30th, the Absorbing Man hides out in Tom Fagan’s barn while Loki outlines his plans. Then, when Tom’s out-of-town guests begin to arrive, Loki assumes the guise of the “lost traveler” once more. That evening, an eerie red glow is seen atop Bald Mountain, just northeast of town. Loki realizes the glow is the result of a ritual of black magic being performed on the mountain to open a portal to the dimension of the dread Dormammu, and factors it into his plans.

Meanwhile, on Bald Mountain, Dormammu’s cultists succeed in opening a portal through which they can communicate with the demonic entity and tell their dark lord that their plans are proceeding. Members of the cult are already in New York City to kidnap Dormammu’s enemy, Doctor Stephen Strange, for the ritual tomorrow that will enable Dormammu to conquer the earth.

However, the cult’s spells have an unintended side-effect due to the dimensional instability that occurs there every Halloween: the walls between this reality and a parallel world collapse, causing two different Rutlands to merge into one. The area of dimensional convergence covers a ten-mile radius around Bald Mountain.

In the Greenwich Village Sanctum Sanctorum of Doctor Strange, the Master of the Mystic Arts sees a vision of Dormammu in the Orb of Agamotto and considers summoning his sometime allies, Prince Namor of Atlantis, a.k.a. the Sub-Mariner, and the incredible Hulk. However, the sorcerer is tricked by a false image of his mentor, the Ancient One, into sending his astral form high into the sky above the city. When he returns, he finds a spell has blocked access to his physical form, which is being kidnapped by several hooded figures. When his manservant Wong tries to intervene, he receives a savage beating. Strange’s body is loaded into a station wagon and driven north out of New York.

Luckily, Wong had been on the phone with his master’s estranged lover, Clea, when the attack occurred and she became worried when he did not come back on the line. Arriving at the Sanctum Sanctorum, Clea revives Wong and learns what has happened. Using the Orb of Agamotto, Clea manages to send a psychic summons to both Namor and the Hulk.

Back in Rutland, a couple from New York, Roy and Jeanie Thomas, arrives at Tom Fagan’s house to help him finish the float for tomorrow’s Halloween Parade. Roy mentions that they heard talk on the radio driving up about mysterious red lights atop Bald Mountain. Tom tells them some of the local legends about the mountain, which has long been a site of paranormal phenomena. Still subtly affected by Loki’s spell, Tom’s manner is unusually creepy.

About a half-hour before midnight, Tom invites Roy and Jeanie to another Halloween ritual that goes back many years, gathering at a particular crossroads on the edge of town to hear “Old Mistress Sarah” chant the names of those who are to die within 24 hours. Arriving at the site, they join the crowd in time to see the elderly woman appear as she does every year. As the nearby church bells toll midnight, Old Mistress Sarah surprises the crowd when she reads off the names of Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and Hawkman, all members of the Justice League of America.

Around the same time, the Sub-Mariner and the Hulk arrive in Greenwich Village, where they are met by Clea and Wong, and they both agree to assist in the rescue of Doctor Strange. Clea hypnotizes the Hulk so that he will change back into Bruce Banner. They return to the Sanctum Sanctorum to try to determine where Strange has been taken.


Just before dawn on October 31st, Roy and Jeanie get their first look at Bald Mountain from Tom Fagan’s yard. Some of the other party-goers are already up and getting into their costumes. They then work together to put the finishing touches on the parade float.

An hour or so later, the station wagon bearing Doctor Strange’s body arrives in Rutland after driving all night. It pulls up to a ramshackle cabin at the foot of Bald Mountain, where they plan to wait until dusk before carrying the body up to the site of the ritual. After surrounding the body with black candles to keep the shielding spell potent, the cultists discuss their plans to enable Dormammu to possess the body of Doctor Strange so he can enter and conquer earth’s dimension. With devilish glee, they predict that Dormammu will cause Bald Mountain to erupt and bury Rutland in a lava flow. Having surreptitiously observed these events, Doctor Strange’s astral form then flashes back to New York and slips inside Wong’s body to better survive the prolonged separation from his physical form.

Later that morning, in the parallel universe, Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and Hawkman assemble for a meeting aboard the Justice League’s orbiting satellite. They are startled to learn they were actually summoned by the enigmatic Phantom Stranger. Having encountered the Phantom Stranger previously, Batman vouches for him, and the rest of the team agrees to hear him out. He explains that the evil sorcerer Felix Faust plans to take advantage of the annual dimensional instabilities to unleash a horde of demons in Rutland, Vermont that very night. The team agrees to investigate.

Not long after, Felix Faust arrives in Rutland, and is drawn to Tom Fagan’s house when he senses Loki’s magical energies. He sequesters himself in a small room on the house’s top floor and begins preparing himself for the incantations he will perform once the sun goes down. Loki also senses Faust’s presence, and realizes he can take advantage of whatever chaos this interloper may cause.

During the afternoon, four friends from New York City -- Steve Englehart, Gerry Conway, Len Wein, and his wife Glynis Wein -- lose their muffler while driving Steve’s dilapidated car to Rutland for the parade. Gerry mentions having had problems in Rutland the year before as well.

Meanwhile, Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and Hawkman spend the entire afternoon searching the area of Rutland for anything out of the ordinary, but have no success since the forces of evil are all laying low until nightfall.

At dusk, Hank McCoy, the former member of the X-Men known as the Beast, and his ex-girlfriend Vera Cantor find themselves stranded several miles west of town. Hank has recently mutated further into a somewhat ape-like form with blue-black fur, but has managed to disguise himself in order to appear human. Vera has enlisted his aid for a looming crisis in Canada, though she has yet to reveal any details, and they were en route to Quebec when Vera’s car broke down. After failing to flag down any passing vehicles, Hank resorts to desperate measures. Out of sight of Vera, he sheds his disguise and lopes across the road as the next car approaches, making sure he is seen. The car happens to be the one bringing Steve, Gerry, Len, and Glynis to Rutland. Steve slams on the brakes, and, freaked out by the strange apparition, they get out to have a look. Hank quickly puts his disguise back on, gets Vera, and flags down the four New Yorkers before they can get underway again. The quartet agrees to give the hapless couple a ride into town.

As they drive off, a dimensional portal opens, depositing the Juggernaut onto the road. However, before he can go anywhere, he is sucked back into the Crimson Cosmos, where he has been trapped for a year and a half. Unknown to the Juggernaut, the phenomenon is caused by the incantations of the cult of Dormammu, who are beginning their long ritual high up on Bald Mountain. Their spells further weaken the boundaries between dimensions, allowing the Juggernaut to materialize briefly in the vicinity of his hated enemy, Hank McCoy.

Soon, the four New Yorkers, along with Hank and Vera, arrive at their motel in Rutland. Hank and Vera thank them for their kindness, then go into town to find a restaurant. Steve, Gerry, Len, and Glynis check into the motel and stow their luggage in their rooms. After getting cleaned up, Glynis puts on her Supergirl costume, but Len’s costume rips when he’s putting it on, so the guys elect to keep wearing their regular clothes instead. The four friends walk up to the start of the parade route to check out the preparations and enjoy the carnival atmosphere. After a little while, they decide to head out to Tom Fagan’s place, as he is expecting them.

Twenty minutes later, Steve’s noisy car rumbles up to Tom’s house, and their host greets them at the door in his Batman costume. The four friends also detect the subtle change in Tom’s demeanor caused by Loki’s spell. He tells them that everyone is just getting ready to leave for the parade. Just then, the real Batman appears, leading the rest of the JLA to Tom’s house. Knowing from the previous Halloween Parade that Tom is one of the event’s organizers, Batman decides to let Tom know about their ongoing investigation. Tom is thrilled to have actual superheroes attending the parade, and asks them to ride on his float. Not seeing any harm in it, the Justice League agrees to participate. The heroes then head into town, but before Tom leaves his house, Loki checks in with his thrall to make sure that everything proceeds apace. Sensing that Thor is approaching, Loki sends the Absorbing Man out into the woods to ambush the thunder god when he arrives.

Tom rides into town with Steve, Gerry, Len, and Glynis. On the way, they ask if Hank and Vera can come to the party later, and Tom is happy to extend them an invitation. At that moment, Hank and Vera are having dinner at a restaurant on Main Street, unaware that the Juggernaut briefly rematerializes in the alley behind the building. The Juggernaut sees the parade getting ready to start, but before he can leave the alley, he is drawn back into the Crimson Cosmos.

As the Halloween Parade begins, Clea, Wong, Namor, and Bruce Banner arrive in Rutland, having made the journey by bus. They immediately notice the eerie red glow bathing the mountaintop and head out of town to investigate. Meanwhile, back at Tom’s house, Felix Faust begins his own sorcerous ritual, drawing demonic energies into the woods surrounding the town.

Just then, Thor arrives in the area, having used his enchanted hammer, Mjolnir, to track the Absorbing Man’s “mystic trail.” With the thunder god are his Asgardian companions Sif and Hildegarde. Thor immediately senses the evil forces that have been unleashed by Felix Faust and Dormammu’s minions. Suddenly, the Absorbing Man attacks and Thor battles him.

In town, Steve, Gerry, Len, and Glynis run into Hank and Vera again and tell them they are invited to Tom’s party later. However, their discussion is interrupted by the sudden materialization of the Juggernaut atop one of the parade floats. He smashes the float but then is just as suddenly drawn back into the Crimson Cosmos. However, in the confusion, Glynis has disappeared and Len, Gerry, and Steve begin a desperate search. Hank sends Vera back to the motel to get a room for them, then ducks into an alley and strips off his disguise. Knowing people will mistake his blue and furry form for a Halloween costume, the Beast sets off in search of the Juggernaut.

Glynis and Tom, along with several other parade-goers, have been mystically mesmerized by Loki and are compelled to walk through the woods to where Thor is fighting the Absorbing Man. The thunder god defeats his opponent by knocking him into Otter Creek in mid-transformation, causing the villain to absorb the properties of the water and be washed away with the current. Thor scarcely has time to catch his breath before Loki reveals himself, claiming he will use the dimensional chaos to supercharge his magic and thereby destroy Thor once and for all.

Loki first sics Tom’s dogs on Thor, having magically transformed them into slavering monsters. When Thor summons a vortex of wind to carry the canines away, Loki turns to his human victims, draining their life-forces to power the fearsome Fire-Sword. Thor is outraged and attacks his brother, but the duel does not go well for the thunder god. Watching from nearby, Sif and Hildegarde know they are honor-bound not to interfere in Thor’s fight.

Meanwhile, in the woods on the opposite side of town, the Beast encounters the Juggernaut when he rematerializes. The Juggernaut recognizes his old foe despite his mutated appearance, and their battle leads them up to Chittenden Reservoir, where the Juggernaut smashes a power station. However, the Beast soon loses his enemy when the Juggernaut’s massive frame keeps slipping on the loose dirt and rocks of the forest. The former X-Man then heads back towards town.

As Sif and Hildegarde watch Loki gaining the upper hand in the battle, they are suddenly visited by the Norn Queen Karnilla, who offers to use her magic to save Thor’s life if Sif will agree to help her track down her lost love Balder the Brave. Sif initially refuses the deal, but then Loki manages to separate Thor from his enchanted hammer, gloating that he need only hold Thor off for 60 seconds to then be able to kill him in his mortal guise as Dr. Donald Blake. Panic-stricken, Sif agrees to Karnilla’s terms, and so the sorceress immediately conjures up a fierce thunderstorm with driving rain that distracts Loki, allowing Thor to retrieve his hammer in the nick of time. Instantly, Thor calls down lightning to strike Loki, destroying the Fire-Sword and releasing those in Loki’s thrall. Loki himself has suddenly been struck blind, and stumbles off into the woods, losing Thor in the darkness. Giving up the search, Thor meets up with Hildegarde, who tells him Sif has gone off with Karnilla. Angered by this turn of events, the two Asgardians return to New York.

Glynis, Tom, and Loki’s other victims wander back into town with no memory of what has happened to them. Glynis soon meets up with Len, Gerry, and Steve again, to their great relief. Then the four friends decide to find a place to get something to eat.

Clea, Wong, Namor, and Bruce Banner climb Bald Mountain to find the black rite is underway. A dimensional portal has already been opened and Clea is horrified to see Dormammu lurking within. Unfortunately, they are discovered by the cult members, of whom there are at least fifty, and while some continue the ritual, others attack the intruders. Banner quickly turns into the Hulk and he and the Sub-Mariner batter the horde of cultists. Before Dormammu can commandeer his host body, though, Doctor Strange’s astral form emerges from Wong and re-enters his own physical form. Strange then battles Dormammu in the dimensional gateway, and the mystic forces they unleash against each other shake the mountain to its very foundations. The people on the streets of Rutland fear the mountain is erupting like a volcano.

There is a sudden landslide that wipes out the cult. The Hulk and the Sub-Mariner manage to protect Clea and Wong until Doctor Strange emerges from the collapsing portal. His power dampened by his exposure to the earth’s environment, Dormammu has decided to retreat, thus freeing Strange to carry Clea and Wong aloft with his Cloak of Levitation. The Hulk and Namor are caught in the final avalanche, but they manage to survive and dig themselves out. Grateful for his friends, Doctor Strange takes Clea and Wong back to the Sanctum Sanctorum in New York while the Sub-Mariner and the Hulk go their separate ways.

Steve, Gerry, Len, and Glynis are hanging out at a restaurant in town, where they have been for over an hour waiting for repairs to be completed on the floats wrecked by the Juggernaut. Glynis, still wearing her Supergirl costume, goes to the bathroom, but when she has not returned 20 minutes later, the guys become concerned. They ask a waitress to check the ladies’ room for them, only to discover that Glynis has vanished once again. Len is worried, but Gerry promises they will find her.

Glynis has been ensorcelled a second time, now by Felix Faust to serve as one of the host bodies for his demon horde. His spells also cause the Justice League, who are standing on one of the floats going down Main Street, to see all the other floats vanish into thin air, with the throng of spectators standing in a glassy-eyed trance. Baffled, the superheroes decide to pair off and canvas the area for the missing floats.

In the woods outside of town, Flash and Hawkman encounter a trio of costumed parade-goers who have been possessed by Faust’s demons. The possession has endowed the victims with superhuman powers to match their costumes. Joined by “Adam Strange” and “Captain America,” Glynis uses the powers of Supergirl to defeat the heroes. Flash and Hawkman collapse to the ground, feeling their life-force ebbing. Glynis and the two men are then teleported away to another part of the woods, where the demons plan to open a portal to their own dimension so they can invade the earth in their true forms. However, the Phantom Stranger appears to remove bits from the costumes of the fallen heroes, in preparation for performing some magic of his own.

Elsewhere in the woods, Batman and Green Lantern are likewise defeated by “Robin,” “Spider-Man,” and “Thor,” while Superman and Green Arrow are overcome by “Captain Marvel” and the 1940s “Flash.” From his hideout, Felix Faust exults over his easy victory, but the Phantom Stranger visits each of the dying heroes in turn to collect his token.

Meanwhile, Len, Gerry, and Steve search frantically for Glynis around town, then decide to go back to Tom Fagan’s house to look for her there. They are unaware that the Beast is very nearby, collecting his disguise from the alley where he left it, and is himself planning to make his way to Tom’s place, hoping to meet up with Vera there. Loki, having stumbled blindly through the woods, also draws near Tom’s house, following the mystic emanations from Felix Faust’s spellcasting. They all arrive at Tom’s house just minutes before midnight.

Hank McCoy enters first to find the party is already in full-swing. He passes Roy and Jeanie Thomas while looking for Vera. Suddenly, though, the Juggernaut smashes through the wall to continue his relentless pursuit of the Beast. Hank runs upstairs to lead him away from the other guests. He goes all the way up to the attic with the Juggernaut following close behind. In a desperate gamble, Hank removes his human-looking mask and huddles up on the floor, hoping to take the Juggernaut by surprise. When the villain enters the dimly-lit room, the Beast suddenly spins around and snarls. The Juggernaut draws back, startled, only for an instant, but it is enough for the Beast to leap on him and tear off his magic helmet. The Juggernaut falls backwards down the stairs to the second-floor landing, feeling his superhuman strength suddenly diminishing. At that moment, the clock strikes midnight.

Simultaneously, the Phantom Stranger has assembled the dying members of the Justice League at the same intersection where Old Mistress Sarah made her predictions 24 hours earlier. As the church bells toll midnight once again, the Phantom Stranger reads off the names of the heroes while tossing the items he had collected from each of their costumes. He thus breaks the spell of imminent death, allowing the Justice League to revive.

The spell broken, Faust’s demons are driven out of their host bodies, which had gathered not far from Tom Fagan’s house. Felix Faust curses his failure and, hearing the commotion in the hall, decides to make good his escape before he is discovered. Just as Len, Gerry, and Steve come upstairs to look for Glynis, they pass the Juggernaut on the landing, with the Beast in hot pursuit. Making it outside, the Juggernaut tries to steal Steve’s car, but it won’t start. The Beast leaps at him, knocking him out of the passenger-side door. They tumble into Tom’s yard and continue their brawl.

Len, Gerry, and Steve enter the room where Felix Faust has been hiding, seeing the wizard about to jump out the window. They initially assume he is trying to commit suicide, but then Faust levitates down and steals Steve’s car, making the engine start with the last of his fading sorcerous might. As the car roars away, the portal to the Crimson Cosmos opens above the weakened Juggernaut and he is drawn back into his extradimensional prison.

Meanwhile, Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and Hawkman have rushed to the scene to battle Faust’s demons before they can assume new host bodies. Glynis and the others awaken from their trance, though dazed, and catch glimpses of the battle as they head for the lights of Tom Fagan’s house. The Justice League makes short work of the demons and manages to drive them back through the doorway to their home dimension before it collapses.

As the Beast stands brooding in the darkness, Glynis wanders up to meet the three guys, who are watching helplessly as Faust drives off in their car. Len asks her where she was, but her memories are too scrambled to give a clear answer, though she thinks she saw some kind of battle raging in the woods. Gerry is mad, but Glynis puts him down for making such a big deal out of everything. Suddenly, Loki comes running out of the trees toward the fleeing car, trying desperately to reach this alien sorcerer before he disappears. To the horror of the four New Yorkers, Loki misses the car and runs right off a cliff. However, before Loki can hit the ground at the bottom of the gorge, he is teleported away by Dormammu, who has just conceived of a new plan of conquest. Assuming Loki to have been one of Tom’s costumed guests, the four friends immediately have their host call the Rutland police.

Not far down the road, Felix Faust is pulled over by the police for his missing muffler. Since he is wanted for breaking out of jail, the officers take him into custody.

With nothing left to sustain it, the dimensional convergence collapses about ten minutes after midnight and the two parallel Rutlands naturally disentangle themselves. In one world, the Beast slowly makes his way back to the motel to meet up with Vera, and in the morning they buy a car from a local farmer to continue their journey north into Canada. In the other world, the Justice League extends an offer of membership to the Phantom Stranger, but he elects to merely disappear. The teammates then return to their orbiting satellite headquarters to file their reports on the mission.

In both worlds, the Rutland police comb the gorge by Tom Fagan’s house in the morning for any sign of a body, and when none is found, the baffled Steve, Gerry, Len, and Glynis are let off with a warning for filing a false report. Steve then has the lost muffler replaced and the quartet drives back to New York City. After hearing the shocking news that 50 members of their community were killed in a landslide on Bald Mountain last night, Tom Fagan makes arrangements to have the gaping hole in the side of his house repaired before winter sets in. He also begins making plans for next year’s Rutland, Vermont Halloween Parade.

OMU: Doctor Strange -- Year Four

Following the cancellation of his original series, Marvel’s resident sorcerer Doctor Strange was eventually retrieved from character limbo to serve in a new team-book, The Defenders. It was a lucky escape, as he was not included in the initial conception of the series, and was only drafted as a last-minute replacement. Plans fell through to feature the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner alongside the Silver Surfer when, so the story goes, Stan Lee decided he felt a little too proprietary towards the Surfer and didn’t want the character used on a regular basis by other writers. It was decided that Doctor Strange would make a suitable replacement, and so his “retirement” would have to be undone. Although the comics seem to suggest that Dr. Strange was back in business immediately, plugging the stories into my OMU timeline reveals that it actually took many months before he was truly ready for action again. His retirement and return make up an extended ordeal from which Stephen Strange emerged stronger than ever before, finally ready to take the next step in his mystic career.

Note: The following timeline depicts the Original Marvel Universe (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See previous posts for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.


We now continue the True History of Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts!


January 1965 – Dr. Stephen Strange continues his recently-revived career as a surgical consultant for a Manhattan-based medical group, though his new life is rapidly unraveling. He has retreated into the persona of a hard-drinking, chain-smoking womanizer and has already alienated most of his colleagues. Haunted by horrific nightmares, Strange suffers from acute insomnia, which drives him to leave his high-rise apartment block each night to wander the city’s streets. Late one evening, his aimless rambles take him into Greenwich Village, a neighborhood he usually avoids. Before he realizes it, he finds himself once more on Bleecker Street, standing in the shadow of his former Sanctum Sanctorum. To his surprise, the house is not boarded up, nor does it show any sign of being abandoned. He begins to fear that something happened to Wong that prevented his manservant from carrying out his last instructions. Trying the door, Strange finds it is not even locked, and with trepidation he enters the dimly-illumined foyer. After taking a few steps down one of the corridors, he stumbles upon Wong, who immediately takes his former master to be an impostor. Strange is perplexed, and his confusion only grows when Wong calls out for “Doctor Strange” and an imposing figure emerges from the shadows, wearing the Amulet of Agamotto and the Cloak of Levitation and disguised in the blue humanoid shape that Strange himself had briefly worn the previous autumn.

Before he can even doubt himself, Strange is attacked by the blue Doctor Strange, and he quickly realizes his foe is trying to kill him without Wong realizing it. However, bereft of any mystical powers, the doctor is easily captured. Utterly helpless, he is unable to resist as a spell renders him insensate. Desperate and in sheer mortal terror, Strange’s subconscious mind reaches out into the void until he once more feels the calm, reassuring presence of his aged mentor, the Ancient One. The Sorcerer Supreme offers to lend Strange his own mystic might to save himself and defeat the impostor, but warns him that to do so, he must accept his true destiny. Choosing life over a living death, Stephen Strange suddenly feels his body charged with magical energies, enabling him to shatter the spell that binds him. Sensing this, the impostor rushes back into the chamber and renews his assault, but is quickly vanquished by Strange’s superior power. Doctor Strange then removes his fallen foe’s blue facemask and discovers he is none other than Baron Mordo. Wong is shocked to learn that he had been duped into serving his master’s greatest enemy for the past few months, but Strange reassures him. Unfortunately, Mordo then recovers enough to escape in a puff of red smoke.

Realizing that the path of the mystic arts is not so easily turned away from, Dr. Strange resigns his position as a medical consultant, settles his accounts, and takes up residence once again in the Sanctum Sanctorum. Under the direction of the Ancient One, he begins a lengthy period of meditation, fasting, and prayer to purge himself of the poisons in his soul. He undergoes a new consecration, followed by days of dedication, as he sets out to reclaim the magical powers he had renounced.

February 1965 – At midnight one night, Doctor Strange receives a psychic summons that draws his astral form to a nearby hospital, where he is astonished to find his former foe Yandroth, the so-called “Scientist Supreme,” whom he had defeated one year ago. However, Yandroth is now an elderly man lying on his deathbed. Yandroth tells Strange of the many decades that have passed for him since their last meeting in the Dream Dimension, and gloats that he has constructed a doomsday machine dubbed the Omegatron, which will destroy the earth once he has died. He then lapses into a coma, and though Strange immediately alerts the attending physicians, Yandroth dies on the operating table.

Learning that Yandroth had been living at Point Promontory, Maine, Doctor Strange returns to his physical form and lets the Cloak of Levitation carry him to New England. En route, however, Strange begins to doubt his ability to deal with such a crisis so soon after returning to sorcery, and so he summons his one-time ally Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, and convinces the headstrong monarch of the sea to help him destroy the Omegatron. Namor suggests they also enlist the aid of the Silver Surfer and the Hulk, with whom he recently teamed up to avert a major catastrophe. Though the Silver Surfer proves unavailable, Doctor Strange is able to find the Hulk and easily goads him into following along. The sorcerer is surprised by the Hulk’s ability to see his astral form, which should have been invisible, but has no time for idle curiosity. The unlikely trio soon finds Yandroth’s installation disguised as a lighthouse on Maine’s rocky coast. While Namor and the Hulk batter away at the building’s defenses, Doctor Strange’s astral form is able to penetrate the chamber containing the Omegatron. The computer is possessed of artificial intelligence, and it brags to Strange that it will use the kinetic energy of his friends’ blows to power its doomsday weapon. Strange fails to warn the Hulk and Namor off, for they dismiss him as merely a ploy of the Omegatron’s defensive systems, and so the mage resorts to casting illusions about them to make the pair attack each other. The Omegatron then begins its final ten-second countdown to detonate all the world’s nuclear arsenals. Seeing no other option, Doctor Strange frantically casts a spell that slows down the flow of time in the Omegatron’s immediate vicinity. He knows this is only a stop-gap measure, but it will afford him the opportunity to study the situation further and devise a means of overcoming the peculiar mix of science and sorcery that Yandroth used to create the Omegatron. Outside, Doctor Strange explains to his associates what has happened, and they decide to go their separate ways. However, feeling safer amongst such powerful allies, Strange suddenly proposes they form a permanent team, suggesting they might call themselves “the Defenders.” But neither the Hulk nor the Sub-Mariner is interested, and so they depart, leaving Doctor Strange on his own. Before returning to New York, the disappointed mage casts a spell of illusion to once again disguise Yandroth’s installation as an ordinary lighthouse.

March 1965 – Doctor Strange becomes so engrossed in regaining his mastery over the mystic forces of Agamotto, Hoggoth, and Oshtur that he neglects the problem of the Omegatron until it completely slips his mind. He is further distracted when he finally contacts Clea again, only to be rebuffed. She is still furious over having been abandoned by him and shut out of his life when he needed her most. Though glad that he has come to his senses at last, Clea is not yet ready to forgive him. She reminds him that she has gotten by all these months on her own, and has managed to assimilate somewhat into earth culture since her long exile from her home dimension has caused all her own mystic powers to fade. Strange is sick at heart, but acknowledges that his behavior toward her was inexcusable. He agrees to give her whatever time she needs to reassess their relationship, and then returns to the Sanctum Sanctorum to bury himself in his studies.

April – September 1965 – For the next six months, Doctor Strange retrains himself in the mystic arts while also finally facing the psychological fallout from his ordeal as a prisoner of the demonic Undying Ones. With the help of the Ancient One, he is at last able to confront his fears and to remember the experience without reliving it. As his mastery of arcane forces returns, his thoughts dwell often on the fate of the mysterious girl who took his place within the poles of ethereal force. He knows that he should attempt to rescue her, but simply cannot deal with the prospect of returning to the Nameless One’s realm. Since she materialized alongside the Hulk, Strange tracks down Bruce Banner to learn more about her, but all Banner can manage to remember is that she was called Barbara. During the summer, Strange realizes that he can no longer lead the life of the reclusive loner as he did previously, for he recognizes his need for the comforts of basic human relationships. As such, he strikes up a casual friendship with one of his neighbors, an American Indian woman named Sara Wolfe. Furthermore, Clea agrees to meet occasionally for dinner, and they begin to slowly rebuild the intimacy they have lost.

Early October 1965 – Doctor Strange receives a mystic cry for help from the aged master of a hidden temple in Vietnam, who has been brought to New York by his followers after they come to believe he was killed in an American mortar attack. In truth, the venerable mystic had entered a death-like trance to escape the shelling, and now needs help to awaken before his followers exact their revenge on the American soldier they believe is responsible for the tragedy. Determining that Spider-Man has already involved himself and is attempting to rescue the soldier, one Eugene “Flash” Thompson, Doctor Strange draws the web-slinger to his Sanctum Sanctorum to propose an alliance. Upon arriving at the building where Thompson is being held prisoner, Spider-Man brawls with the cult’s strongman, giving Doctor Strange the time he needs to weave the spell to awaken the aged master. The situation thus resolved, Strange bids farewell to Spider-Man and returns home.

A few days later, Doctor Strange receives a visit from a young man named Jim Wilson, a friend of the Hulk, who has come for help regarding his suspicions about a new hit children’s television show called The Astro-Nuts. The program features a large furry creature called Xemnu, who seems to have an eerie hypnotic power over young people. Jim’s concerns only serve to reinforce Strange’s own misgivings about Xemnu and his meteoric rise to fame. Therefore, Doctor Strange mystically disguises himself as the Hulk while he and Jim pay a visit to the show’s executive producers, ex-astronauts Calvin Beame and Richmond Wagner. A deal is struck for the Hulk to do a guest-spot on a special live broadcast in four weeks when Xemnu is supposed to return to his “magic planet.” Afterwards, Jim and Doctor Strange agree to meet again in one month’s time.

Late October 1965 – On the day before Halloween, Doctor Strange sees a vision in the Orb of Agamotto of the dread Dormammu crossing the dimensions to conquer the earth. Afraid that he is not yet ready to face such a powerful adversary, Strange immediately considers summoning the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner to his side once more. However, he then falls victim to a false image of the Ancient One’s astral form, which leads his own ectoplasmic self high into the sky above the Sanctum Sanctorum. As the illusion dissolves, Strange realizes his physical body is being kidnapped. A spell prevents his spirit from re-entering his flesh, and when Wong tries to stop the kidnappers, he is savagely beaten. Doctor Strange then follows as his body is loaded into a station wagon and driven north into Vermont. By dawn, they arrive at their destination, a cabin at the foot of Bald Mountain near the town of Rutland. Learning that the kidnappers plan to wait until dusk before using the body in an evil ritual of black magic, Doctor Strange flashes back to New York where his astral form takes refuge within Wong’s body in a bid to survive the prolonged separation. Acting on their own, Wong and Clea manage to recruit the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner for a rescue mission, and the quartet tracks the kidnappers to Rutland, which is holding its annual Halloween parade. Despite the best efforts of the Hulk and Namor, the cult begins its obscene rite, offering Stephen Strange’s body as a vessel for Dormammu’s essence, since the lord of the Dark Dimension is unable to physically enter earth’s plane of existence. However, at the crucial moment, Doctor Strange’s astral form emerges from Wong’s body and enters his own, allowing the sorcerer to confront Dormammu in the dimensional gateway. Knowing the open portal to earth’s dimension saps Dormammu of his strength, Doctor Strange unleashes a mystic attack. The force of their battle rocks the mountain, causing an avalanche in which many of the cult members die. Namor and the Hulk shield Clea and Wong from harm until Dormammu decides to retreat, allowing Strange to emerge from the gateway and levitate his friends to safety. Thoroughly exhausted but triumphant, Doctor Strange leads Clea and Wong back to the Sanctum Sanctorum, while the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner go their own separate ways.

Early November 1965 – At the appointed time, Doctor Strange meets up with Jim Wilson to continue their investigation into the mysterious Xemnu. The sorcerer again disguises himself as the Hulk while he and Jim travel to Cape Kennedy for the live broadcast of the Astro-Nuts “Farewell Xemnu” special. During the broadcast, Xemnu issues an irresistible psychic summons to all children in the audience to come to him and board his spaceship, causing Doctor Strange to drop his disguise and attack. Mystically probing his foe’s mind, Strange learns that Xemnu is a real alien who had tried unsuccessfully to conquer the earth five years before, and managed to return by possessing Richmond Wagner’s body during a spacewalk. He now intends to kidnap as many earth children as possible to repopulate his devastated home planet. However, Xemnu’s plans are ruined when the Sub-Mariner appears, having been summoned by Doctor Strange, and destroys the rocket on the launch pad before any of the children can get aboard. Then, the Hulk arrives unexpectedly and attacks Xemnu as well, smashing the alien until his body discorporates into a gaseous form. Believing the menace of Xemnu to be ended, Doctor Strange is about to renew his proposal for forming a permanent team when the military personnel on hand train their weapons on the Hulk, causing both the jade giant and the Sub-Mariner to exit in disgust. Disappointed again, Doctor Strange ensures the children have been released from the alien mind control, then bids Jim Wilson farewell and returns home.

However, only a few days later, the Hulk seeks out Doctor Strange to help the Sub-Mariner, who has been injured. The sorcerer follows the green goliath to a wooded area in New Jersey, where they find Namor unconscious and trapped inside a mystical force field. Suddenly, a grotesque cloaked figure appears and identifies himself as Necrodamus, servant of the Undying Ones. The mere mention of the name causes Strange to break out in a cold sweat. Necrodamus reveals his plan to take revenge on the trio for having ruined the Nameless One’s plan to invade earth’s dimension last year. In one hour, the ugly little wizard proclaims, he will offer Namor as a sacrifice to his demonic masters and receive a powerful new body in return. As Necrodamus teleports away, Doctor Strange struggles to resist the sense of panic welling up in his breast. Hoping to forestall Necrodamus’ return, he attempts to weave a spell to slow down the flow of time, but, unable to properly focus his thoughts, he fails. Strange then realizes he must spend the remainder of the hour meditating, trying to master the fear that threatens to consume him. As Strange turns his thoughts inward, the Hulk continues to vent his rage on the force field surrounding their fallen friend, but to no avail.

Doctor Strange awakens from his trance nearly an hour later, having managed to calm and focus himself. As a protective measure, he tries to encase the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner within the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, but he acts too late. Namor is magically drawn through the ground into the network of caverns below. Strange’s anxiety builds as he leads the Hulk into a nearby cave and down into the bowels of the earth. When a monstrous demon leaps from the shadows, Strange is caught off guard, but the Hulk smashes the creature with little trouble. Soon they find the subterranean chamber where Necrodamus has set up his sacrificial altar, and Strange feels his knees grow weak as the awful visage of the Nameless One forms amidst the smoke of the incense torches. The stench of evil permeates the cavern as Necrodamus grows and changes into a muscular powerhouse, ready to slay the Sub-Mariner with his eldritch blade. His heart pounding like a trip hammer, Strange finds himself unable to cast any effective spells, and so he sends the Hulk to battle Necrodamus directly. Quickly realizing even the Hulk may be overmatched, Strange manages to work a simple spell that fills Namor’s force-field prison with water, thereby granting him the strength to break free. As Namor joins the fray, the Hulk collapses, having been injured by Necrodamus’ enchanted sword, and suddenly changes back into Bruce Banner. Then, seeing that Necrodamus has overwhelmed the Sub-Mariner and is bringing his blade down to complete the sacrificial rite, Doctor Strange pushes through the terror clouding his mind and seizes the wizard’s arm. Banner also lends a hand, and they succeed in delaying their foe just long enough for the mystic conjunction of stars to pass. Necrodamus suddenly and painfully reverts to his former wizened body, then hastily teleports away in defeat. Doctor Strange watches the Nameless One’s vaporous image disperse as well. Namor then mentions that he had been attacked earlier not by Necrodamus himself but by his servant -- none other than the Silver Surfer. Concerned, Doctor Strange insists they must all work together to find the Surfer, wherever he may be -- and unwilling to take no for an answer, declares the Defenders to be officially formed.

Mid November 1965 – After two weeks of searching the globe, Doctor Strange’s astral form is with the Sub-Mariner when they encounter the Silver Surfer along the coast of Antarctica. Enraged, Namor fights with the Surfer, who disavows any knowledge of the recent sneak attack in New Jersey and then angrily departs for his “private valley” to be alone. Sensing a clue in the Surfer’s words, Strange bids Namor to rendezvous with him at his Sanctum Sanctorum. When Namor arrives, they consult the diary of the late Kenneth W. Ward. Doctor Strange suspects the valley the Surfer spoke of may be the same Himalayan valley where Ward had discovered the statue of the Nameless One. And so, they enlist the Hulk’s aid once again and journey to the Himalayas to investigate. Upon arriving in the remote snow-bound valley, the trio discovers a group of “Abominable Snowmen.” The Hulk fights with them until the Silver Surfer appears and calls him off, claiming the ape-men are harmless. However, the creatures suddenly transform themselves into a cadre of Warrior Wizards, led by a warlock called Calizuma. As they launch their attack on the startled quartet, Calizuma claims they have been manipulating the Silver Surfer for many months. But the Warrior Wizards prove to be no match for the combined might of the Defenders and are soundly defeated. Before leaving the valley, Doctor Strange offers to help the Silver Surfer escape his exile on earth, explaining that it should be possible to circumvent Galactus’ barrier by traveling through another dimension. Excited at the prospect of freedom, the Silver Surfer agrees to give it a try. The Hulk and the Sub-Mariner both volunteer to come along. Strange weaves his spell and the four of them disappear in a nimbus of light.

A moment later, Doctor Strange is horrified to discover that they have been diverted into the hellish realm of the Undying Ones. Rather than succumb to terror, however, Strange realizes the time has come to face his greatest fear, and either conquer it or die. They soon come to the poles of ethereal force and find the girl, Barbara, still trapped within. The Silver Surfer lends his power cosmic to Doctor Strange’s mystic energies to destroy her prison. Plagued by guilt, Strange offers Barbara a lame excuse for not attempting a rescue earlier. But as the Defenders flee, they are suddenly caught within a whirling maelstrom. They escape from the vortex only to be confronted with a chilling sight: the women they love -- Clea, Jarella, Shalla-Bal, and Dorma -- trapped within the poles of ethereal force. However, Namor, knowing Dorma is dead, sees through the illusion and realizes Barbara has betrayed them. Sure enough, the Nameless One then appears, revealing that Barbara had, after many months of imprisonment, agreed to merge with her demonic captor. Their “rescue” of her had been merely another illusion. Outraged, the Defenders press their attack. As the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner batter at the Nameless One’s massive frame, Doctor Strange and the Silver Surfer work together to entrap its foot within the poles of ethereal force. These distractions give Strange the chance to forcibly separate Barbara from her demonic mate. Unfortunately, the process destroys Barbara’s mind. Taking her along, the Defenders make good their escape and shift back into earth’s dimension.

Rather than being somewhere beyond Galactus’ barrier, as they expected, the Defenders find themselves instead standing outside Garrett Castle in England. Bitterly disappointed, the Silver Surfer flies off in sorrow. The Hulk is furious that Barbara has gone mad and, cradling her in his arms, leaps over the wall into the castle grounds. Doctor Strange, his self-confidence crumbling, abdicates his role as team leader, leaving it up to Prince Namor to decide what they should do next. As a practical matter, Namor decides they need to follow the Hulk to make sure he does not harm Barbara accidentally. However, despite making a thorough search of the castle, the pair is unable to find any trace of them. Finally, in the cellar they discover a large smoldering brazier which suddenly flares up, its mystic flames transporting them to yet another dimension. Doctor Strange and the Sub-Mariner are confronted by the Asgardian warrior known as the Executioner, a legion of armored knights, and a wizard called Fragon, who reveals that they have entered the realm of Queen Casiolena. Quickly overcome, the heroes are thrown into a dungeon, where they join Bruce Banner and the mindless Barbara. Strange is then surprised to hear the familiar voice of the Black Knight coming from the cell across the corridor, and finds his erstwhile ally imprisoned alongside the villainous Enchantress. The Britain-based Avenger explains how the Enchantress had recruited him -- using an ensorcelling kiss -- to free the Executioner from Casiolena’s clutches, an undertaking that utterly failed. However, Doctor Strange is unable to prevent the Enchantress from using her magic to transform Barbara into a superhuman warrior called the Valkyrie to free them. After the Valkyrie smashes down the cell doors, Strange assists the Enchantress in defeating Fragon while the Sub-Mariner, the Hulk, the Black Knight, and the Valkyrie rout Casiolena’s forces and take down the Executioner. Casiolena then appears, ready to smite them all with her sorcery, but before Doctor Strange can react, the Valkyrie and the Enchantress knock her out. When the Black Knight objects to the reconciliation between the Executioner and the Enchantress, the goddess turns her pawn into a stone statue with a magical kiss. After the two Asgardians depart, Doctor Strange finds he is unable to reverse the Black Knight’s transformation. Thus, the Defenders take the statue with them as they traverse the dimensional barrier back to Garrett Castle. Doctor Strange then casts a spell to seal the castle behind an invisible, impenetrable barrier, and decides to take his friend’s petrified form back to the Sanctum Sanctorum to work on a cure. Valkyrie claims both the Ebony Blade and the Black Knight’s winged horse, Aragorn, and declares herself a member of the Defenders, over the others’ objections. She then accompanies Doctor Strange back to New York.

Late November 1965 – Though he feels a bit put out, Doctor Strange allows the Valkyrie to stay at the Sanctum Sanctorum until she can figure out what to do with herself. Bereft of any memories or clear sense of identity, the Valkyrie is hesitant to strike out on her own. Discreetly, Strange also investigates the possibility of undoing Barbara’s transformation, but is unable to find the answer. However, he is gladdened when Clea begins spending more and more time with him at the Sanctum Sanctorum, oblivious to the fact that she is motivated primarily by jealousy. Though the Valkyrie is beautiful, Strange is not in the least attracted to her, and devotes most of his time to the Black Knight’s grim fate. Towards the end of the month, the Sub-Mariner pays him a visit to check on his progress and watches as Strange fails again to break the Enchantress’ spell.

Mid December 1965 – After several awkward weeks, Doctor Strange encourages the Valkyrie to move on and decide what to do with her life. He convinces her that she should begin by building friendships with the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner, and gives her two mystic crystals that will lead her to them. Aware of Clea’s negative attitude toward her, the Valkyrie takes the crystals and flies off on Aragorn. Once she has departed, Strange and Clea are finally able to openly discuss their feelings for each other, and to address the issues in their relationship that have kept them apart. They come to a new understanding, and for the first time in over a year, Doctor Strange feels his life is back on track.

Later, the Valkyrie returns with the Sub-Mariner to report to Doctor Strange on their encounter with the Omegatron, which nearly destroyed the world after Strange had inadvertently weakened the time-slowing spell he had cast back in February. Strange curses himself for a novice, but is relieved that, along with the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner’s cousin Namorita, they had managed to destroy the doomsday device in the nick of time. However, while the Valkyrie and Namor are telling their tale, the Sanctum Sanctorum is suddenly sealed within a mystic barrier. The house is then attacked by Cyrus Black, a minor sorcerer Strange had encountered several years ago, and his army of underlings. After the force field is shattered by the approach of the Silver Surfer, the Defenders easily rout Black and his thugs. Unfortunately, the villains manage to escape when some stray bolts of bedevilment threaten to crumble the Black Knight’s petrified form. After introductions are made, the Silver Surfer invites the Valkyrie to accompany him on a tour of the planet. Namor invites himself along and they depart, leaving Doctor Strange to his studies.

Late December 1965 – Doctor Strange is consulting the Orb of Agamotto when his friends return about a week later to tell him of their travels. Suddenly, they are beset by a succession of monstrous demons that appear out of nowhere and vanish into nothingness as soon as they are defeated. The instigator of these attacks is revealed when Cyrus Black materializes among them, now possessing an idealized form. As Black unleashes powerful magics, Doctor Strange is bewildered by his inability to fight back. However, when Namor realizes how unreal the situation is, the spell is suddenly broken. Cyrus Black fades into nothingness, and the Sanctum Sanctorum returns to normal. Doctor Strange theorizes that reality had somehow been altered by Black’s unconscious mind, and when Namor convinced the wizard his dream was not real, the spell could no longer be maintained. After dinner, the Silver Surfer and the Sub-Mariner depart, but Strange reluctantly agrees to allow the Valkyrie to continue staying with him until she can sort out some of the mysteries of her existence. Now more secure in their relationship, Clea feels less threatened by the Valkyrie, and the previous tension in the house does not return. Doctor Strange at last feels ready to face whatever challenges the new year may bring.


Notes:

January 1965 – Stephen Strange presents a classic case of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder resulting from his imprisonment and torture at the hands of the extradimensional demons known as the Undying Ones. The results would prove to be far-reaching and life-changing. He returns from self-imposed retirement in the back-up story included in Marvel Feature #1.

February 1965 – The Defenders face their first crisis as a team in the main story in Marvel Feature #1. Namor, the Hulk, and the Silver Surfer had worked together the previous December to prevent a dangerous new weather-controlling machine from being activated, as seen in Sub-Mariner #34-35.

March-September 1965 – The Ancient One indicated it would not be easy or quick for Stephen Strange to regain complete command of his occult powers, and his lengthy retraining period represents another Untold Tale of the Original Marvel Universe. While Strange would soon overcome his PTSD, it would be a long time before he exhibited the cool confidence seen in his earliest stories. When Sara Wolfe is introduced in Doctor Strange v.2 #38, she is described as “an old, dear friend.” As that story falls several years later on my OMU timeline, this seems like the ideal placement for their first meeting.

October 1965 – Doctor Strange teams up with Spider-Man once again in Amazing Spider-Man #109. Chronological analysis reveals that the first part of the story in Marvel Feature #3 actually occurs before the Rutland, Vermont Halloween Parade story shown in the previous issue. Dr. Strange is likely unaware of all the other weirdness going on in Rutland on that particular night.

November 1965 – The Defenders’ battle with Xemnu, seen in Marvel Feature #3, is followed almost immediately by the events depicted in Defenders #1-4. Although Doctor Strange notes that they had been searching for the Silver Surfer for two months, this is merely a topical reference to the two months that had elapsed since the previous issue was published. During this period, Steve Englehart often wrote his stories as though they occurred in real-time. The Sub-Mariner watches Dr. Strange try to cure the Black Knight in a flashback seen in Avengers #117.

December 1965 – The Valkyrie moves in with Doctor Strange in Defenders #5 and would actually live there for quite a while. Cyrus Black’s attempts at getting revenge on Dr. Strange bring us up to Defenders #6.



Next Issue: The New Sorcerer Supreme!

Jump Back: Doctor Strange – Year Three

Clea's Fashion Parade

Doctor Strange’s girlfriend Clea always had a unique sense of style. Not surprising considering she came from another dimension. Created by Steve Ditko, her earliest outfits were as bizarre as the abstract landscapes that she inhabited.


When she first appears in Strange Tales #126, it seems that Clea is dressed to the nines in this elaborate outfit that includes gloves and high-heels. It also introduces the distinctively-patterned leggings that would become her trademark. It’s no wonder Doctor Strange was smitten with her.

Clea is dressed somewhat more conservatively the next time we see her, in Strange Tales #132, wearing this floor-length gown with long, tapering sleeves. Since she is with a man whom she addresses as “father” who doesn’t really look like her actual father, Orini, we might assume that she is in the Dark Dimension equivalent of a church speaking to some sort of priest. Dormammu is something of a self-styled deity, so it would make sense that his own “royal court” would have some sort of organized religious structure about it. And like many churches on Earth, Clea clearly feels it is appropriate to “dress up” to attend.

In the next issue, Clea goes casual in this comfortable-looking long-sleeve red T-shirt and pink tights (again with heels), accessorized with an elaborate ornamental collar. Its yoke-like design might be representative of the oppression suffered by Dormammu’s subjects. We might also note that, while living in the Dark Dimension, Clea also seemed partial to layering with horizontally-striped turtlenecks, which might suggest that her native realm is a bit chilly as well as dark.

Clea first opts to wear purple in this ensemble from Strange Tales #134, which features a wide, shiny waist-cinching belt. It is interesting to note that she seemed to favor stiletto heels in her home dimension, but largely abandoned them after taking up residence on Earth. Clearly the laws of physics as we know them do not apply in Dormammu’s realm, and she thus was forced to rethink her footwear choices once she had to start walking on solid ground.

After a period spent lost in one of the numberless nether-realms, Clea adopted her best-known look, which she would sport regularly during the period she served as Doctor Strange’s disciple. It was first seen in Doctor Strange #171 and was apparently designed by Tom Palmer. (Eventually her shirt became more of a bodysuit.) It was both functional and comfortable, while still retaining an alien quality that reminded her of her home world.

After Doctor Strange was captured and tortured by a race of extradimensional demons called the Undying Ones, he gave up the mystic arts for a period of time, until he recovered from the trauma. During this period, Clea was left to fend for herself in the unfamiliar environment of New York City. Worse, the mystic powers she had once possessed, derived from her native Dark Dimension, had faded away during her exile, and she had not yet mastered Earth’s occult forces. Thus she was forced to assimilate somewhat into the local culture, as evidenced by this outfit seen in Marvel Feature #2. It was designed by Ross Andru, and shows that Clea knows how to make a fashion statement in any universe.

After Doctor Strange returned to sorcery, Clea became his disciple, moving in with him in his Sanctum Sanctorum. She would continue to push the envelope of fashion from time to time, as we may see in future posts.

OMU: Secret Invasions -- 1962

During the first couple of years of the superhero revival in the 1960s, Marvel Comics featured so many “alien invasion” stories that one is forced to wonder what the heck was going on in the Marvel Universe to make the Earth such a tempting target. The second issue of nearly all Marvel’s new features was given over to an alien invasion storyline, with more to follow in subsequent months. Although the alien invasion had been a staple of adventure comics for many years, Lee & Kirby and Co. threatened to wear it out through overuse. Nevertheless, it is interesting to put these various stories into a coherent chronology and look at them from the aliens’ point of view, to give us a different perspective of the Earth’s place in the cosmos at this critical juncture in the history of the Original Marvel Universe.

Note: The following timeline depicts the Original Marvel Universe (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See previous posts for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.


January 1962 – After a skirmish in the ongoing Kree-Skrull War gives new strategic importance to the planet Earth, which is rich in exploitable resources and located conveniently close to a natural space-warp, Skrull Emperor Dorrek gives the order to launch an invasion. However, upon arriving at the planet, the Skrull fleet monitors reports of the recent emergence of a team of superpowered champions called the Fantastic Four. The decision is made to send four agents down to impersonate and discredit the heroes, using a combination of the Skrulls’ natural shape-changing ability and advanced technology. The Skrull spies are initially successful, and the Fantastic Four are arrested and detained by the United States military. However, before the agents can signal the invasion fleet, the Fantastic Four escape and trick the Skrulls into revealing themselves. The Skrull spies are taken prisoner and then, posing as the impostors, the Fantastic Four board the fleet’s flagship and use faked photos to convince its commander that Earth’s defenses are too formidable. Volunteering to remain behind, the Fantastic Four return to the planet as the Skrull fleet withdraws. Though one of the spies has managed to escape, the other three are made to change into cows and are hypnotized to forget their true natures. They are left grazing in a pasture while the fugitive Skrull goes into hiding.

February 1962 – Learning of the Skrulls’ embarrassing defeat through his contacts in the Kree Empire, Torkon, Emperor of the Tribbitites, decides to invade Earth and thereby score a strategic coup. To determine the true nature and extent of Earth’s defenses, Torkon orders the interrogation of the most brilliant scientist associated with Earth’s military forces, which leads his advance team to capture Dr. Robert Bruce Banner of the Air Force installation known as Desert Base in New Mexico. Banner is taken aboard their ship, which returns to high orbit. However, before Captain Torrak can begin the interrogation, Banner transforms into a rampaging green-skinned monster with incredible strength and easily commandeers the vessel. Just then, the ship is blasted out of the sky by a barrage of surface-to-air missiles with nuclear warheads. After it crash-lands, the crew escapes capture by tunneling under the wreckage. They then signal the rest of the armada to begin the invasion. Emperor Torkon cuts into all electromagnetic broadcasts to demand planet-wide surrender. To bring the earthlings to heel, the armada activates a device that disrupts the orbit of the moon, resulting in earthquakes and floods that cause a global panic. Within hours, however, the armada is attacked by a ground-based directed energy weapon that disrupts their systems with powerful gamma rays. The Tribbitite ships spin out of control and are forced to retreat. Torkon is humiliated and Captain Torrak is sentenced to the treadmills. Earth’s governments cover up the invasion by claiming it was an elaborate hoax.

April 1962 – Having witnessed the previous two failed invasions from their observation platform on one of the moons of Saturn, an expeditionary force of Kronans from the planet Ria initiate their own invasion plan that they believe will be successful. A single ship lands outside a fishing village on the coast of Norway, where the crew tests their weapons in Earth’s environment. Facing no significant opposition, the Kronans signal their fleet to enter the atmosphere. The ships are met by a squadron of NATO fighter jets, but the human pilots are easily fooled by a holographic illusion of a giant monster. The surface-to-air nuclear missiles that were so effective against the Tribbitites are shrugged off by the Kronans’ force fields. However, after the Kronans land and disembark, they are attacked by a lone human wielding a war hammer who routs their forces and smashes every weapon they employ against him. Terrified that the Earth has armies of such invincible warriors, the invaders abort their mission and flee the planet. Outraged by the appalling lack of actionable intelligence, the Kronan high command orders the observation platform orbiting Saturn shut down.

June 1962 – Oblivious to these events, members of a race of unidentified green-skinned aliens arrive in a single flying saucer with a plan to conquer the Earth using mass hypnosis. They construct a giant lifelike robot in the image of the Neanderthals whom they studied on their previous visit to Earth 80,000 years ago and set it down in the small town of Granville, New York. While the flying saucer hovers overhead, concealed within an artificial cloud, the robot enslaves the inhabitants with its hypnotic stare and directs them to construct a wall encircling the town. However, a champion soon appears wearing a suit of high-tech armor and destroys the robot with powerful magnetic devices. When he exposes the flying saucer and turns his magnets on it as well, the aliens quickly leave Earth in search of easier conquests.

July 1962 – A lone alien invader, exiled from the planet Astra a few thousand light-years away, attacks Desert Base in New Mexico, using his psychokinetic power over metallic molecules to easily destroy the weapons he finds there. Calling himself the Metal Master, he declares his intention to conquer the Earth and issues his ultimatum. Though he is challenged by a green-skinned powerhouse called the Hulk, the Metal Master is able to defeat him in battle. Feeling unopposed, he then roams the Earth wreaking havoc upon whatever metal structures catch his eye while awaiting the planet’s surrender. However, just before the deadline, the Hulk challenges him again, this time brandishing some sort of weapon. The Metal Master’s powers unaccountably fail him, and while straining to exert his mental influence over the weapon’s molecular structure, he draws too close. The Hulk grabs him and threatens to pulverize him unless he undoes all the damage he caused. Afraid for his life, the Metal Master complies. Uncertain of what has happened to him, the Metal Master flees to his ship and returns to outer space.

News of the “invincible” Earth reaches the planet Xarta in the Fornax Galaxy, which inspires the swaggering Warlord Ugarth to select it as the site of his final campaign of conquest before handing the reins of power over to his son Zano. Only days after the Metal Master’s defeat, Ugarth’s ship lands outside New York, which they have determined to be the planet’s prime city. Following their usual strategy, the Xartans use their natural shape-changing abilities to impersonate key government personnel, such as the mayor and members of the city council, in order to push through nonsensical laws and ordinances to sow confusion, unrest, and panic among the populace. However, their ship is discovered by the hammer-wielding champion called Thor, who bests both Ugarth and his son Zano in single combat. When the Xartan fleet detects Ugarth’s body hurtling through the upper atmosphere, they decide to retreat. Zano and his lieutenants are forced to change themselves into trees, which renders them essentially mindless.

August 1962 – A criminal from the planet Kosmos escapes to Earth when he manages to piggyback his teleportation signal on the gamma-ray beam originating from the astronomical observatory of Dr. Vernon Van Dyne. After murdering the puny human scientist, the gelatinous creature destroys the gamma-ray device so he cannot be followed, then oozes out into the city to conquer himself a world. Finding he can absorb matter from the environment to increase his size, the creature makes his way along the Hudson River. Though he encounters military resistance, the creature shrugs off their mightiest weapons. Having reached gigantic proportions, he moves back into the city, terrorizing the populace. Suddenly, however, he is fired upon by an unseen sniper, and as the shotgun shells penetrate his undulating form they release a chemical that neutralizes the acid in his biochemistry, causing his body mass to break down. The would-be conqueror dies in agony.

September 1962 – Ready at last to avenge the humiliation he suffered at the hands of the Fantastic Four, the Skrull Emperor Dorrek dispatches a genetically-modified warrior whom they call the Super-Skrull. Arriving on Earth, the Super-Skrull lands his ship in New York’s Times Square and publicly claims the planet for the Skrull Empire. When the Fantastic Four appear to challenge him, he reveals that he has been granted the ability to mimic all their superpowers to a highly-magnified degree. Overwhelmed, the human heroes retreat. Later, the Super-Skrull confidently accepts the team’s challenge to meet in final combat on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean. Once there, he easily overcomes his three male opponents using his “secret weapon,” irresistible hypnotic powers. Unfortunately, the Invisible Girl manages to place a small device on his back that jams the power-augmentation beam the Skrulls are sending, causing his superpowers to fade. Severely weakened, the Super-Skrull is then trapped within a dormant volcano by the rest of the Fantastic Four. Even after he manages to remove the jamming device, the Skrull energy beam proves unable to penetrate the volcanic rock, and the Super-Skrull remains hopelessly imprisoned.

Meanwhile, two ships from the relatively backwater planet of Alpha Chiltar III land on an island in the Aegean Sea. They construct a 50-foot robot in the shape of a Cyclops, the image drawn from the local mythology, and use it to capture numerous human specimens for examination to see if the Earth will be easy pickings for conquest and colonization. After a couple of weeks, the decision is made to signal their invasion fleet, and they order the robot to kill all the prisoners. However, the robot suddenly goes haywire and crushes one of the spaceships. Unable to reestablish control, the aliens assume that humans must possess previously unsuspected mental powers. The Alpha-Chiltarians crowd into their remaining ship and blast off, canceling their invasion plans.

October 1962 – A race of extradimensional aliens accidentally discovers the existence of Earth and a means to cross the dimensional barrier. They decide to invade and conquer using their ability to project their astral forms into other beings and thereby “possess” them. Near their interdimensional nexus they find a small Bavarian village and target it as a test of their invasion plans. They are initially successful, until a stranger comes to town, the mystic master Dr. Stephen Strange. The human mage crosses into the alien dimension and defeats their leader in single combat, forcing him to withdraw his agents from the village. Doctor Strange then returns to Earth and casts a spell to seal the dimensional barrier once again.

November 1962 – After observing the Earth for many months, an alien being known as the Space Phantom emerges from the Limbo dimension, where his home planet, Phantus, has become trapped as a result of their rampant abuse of time-travel technology. The Space Phantom has been empowered by the master of Limbo, Immortus, with the ability to assume the shape of any being, casting his victim into Limbo for the duration of his impostiture. He now plans to use this ability to destroy all superheroes so that his people can abandon Phantus and colonize the Earth instead, and he targets the recently-formed team the Avengers as the most immediate threat. Assuming the identity of the Hulk, the Space Phantom sows the seeds of discord among the Avengers, but he makes the mistake of bragging about his plans to their junior associate Rick Jones. Alerted to the danger, the Avengers fight the Space Phantom as he switches from one identity to the next, but he battles them to a standstill. However, when Thor finally arrives, the Space Phantom finds that he is unable to overcome the enchantments of Odin. Instead of taking on Thor’s form, the Space Phantom finds himself transported to Limbo and is unable to return to Earth.


Notes:

January 1962 – The Skrulls take on the Fantastic Four for the first time in Fantastic Four #2. Prior to this, it seems the Skrulls visited Earth about once every fifteen or so years, mainly to collect “slaves” for their gladiatorial contests. On their previous visit, in 1947, the ship crashed near Roswell, New Mexico and the crew was autopsied by the United States Air Force. Tales of widespread Skrull activity during the late 1950s and their encounters with “3-D Man” are highly exaggerated if not entirely false. If the Skrulls had successfully infiltrated Earth society only three to four years before this story, it is unlikely Mister Fantastic’s pictures of giant monsters would have scared them off.

February 1962 – The Tribbitites, or the “Toad Men” as they were originally called, menace the Earth in Incredible Hulk #2. In Hulk #191, Torkon explains that their current home planet is an artificial world built from stolen Kree plans, suggesting that they would be informed of major news from both the Kree Empire and its traditional enemies the Skrulls.

April 1962 – The Kronans, a.k.a. “the Stone Men from Saturn,” are driven from Earth by the mighty Thor in Journey Into Mystery #83. It is doubtless due to Odin’s machinations that their ship landed so near the cave where Mjolnir lay hidden and that Don Blake just happened to be vacationing there at the time.

June 1962 – The giant Neanderthal robot and his alien masters face Iron Man in Tales of Suspense #40. It has been speculated that these aliens may be or be related to the similar-looking Guna seen later in Tales of Suspense #55.

July 1962 – The Metal Master attempts to conquer the Earth singlehandedly in Incredible Hulk #6. It just so happened the Fantastic Four were on a mission to the moon at this time, which is why they failed to respond to the crisis. The Xartans are defeated by Thor in Journey Into Mystery #90.

August 1962 – The Creature from Kosmos never knows that his unseen assailant is the Ant-Man, aided and abetted by his brand-new partner the Wasp, as depicted in Tales to Astonish #44. Although the Creature was resurrected for stories set in the Second Marvel Universe, the original story makes it pretty clear he died a gruesome death.

September 1962 – The Super-Skrull comes to Earth in Fantastic Four #18. The A-Chiltarians and their Cyclops robot are defeated by Ant-Man and the Wasp in Tales to Astonish #46, though like the Creature from Kosmos, they are unaware of who has defeated them. Incidentally, Amazing Spider-Man #2 also features an alien invasion storyline, although it was later revealed that the “aliens” were just human crooks in disguise.

October 1962 – Doctor Strange stops the aliens known as the Possessors in Strange Tales #118.

November 1962 – The Avengers battle the Space Phantom in Avengers #2. The plight of the planet Phantus is revealed in later stories.


There were several other extraterrestrial incursions during this period, but they did not really qualify as “alien invasion” stories. The Ovoids and the Elan, from Fantastic Four #10 and #24, respectively, were passing through our solar system peaceably when they had close encounters with people of Earth. The Xantha stirred up some trouble with their “hostility ray” in Fantastic Four #7, but their only objective was to coerce the FF into saving their own planet. There is no real evidence that either Warlord Kulla or the denizens of Dimension Z, seen in Tales to Astonish #41 and #49, respectively, had plans to invade the Earth dimension after kidnapping some of our scientists to build them weapons of mass destruction. They may only have wanted to exploit human ingenuity to give them an advantage in their own geopolitical struggles.


Next Issue: The Return of Doctor Strange!

The Amazing Miss Arrowette

In my previous looks at Jack Kirby’s “Green Arrow” stories of the late 1950s, I noted the glaring similarities between Green Arrow’s crime-fighting modus operandi and that of DC’s more renowned superhero Batman. Like Bruce Wayne, Oliver Queen was a millionaire possessed of no superhuman powers, whose teen-aged ward acted as his costumed sidekick. His secret headquarters was located in the “Arrow-Cave,” he drove the customized “Arrowcar” or “Arrowmobile,” and flew around in his unique “Arrowplane.” After Kirby’s departure, Green Arrow imitated Batman in yet another fashion when he acquired an annoying female wannabe who stole his gimmicks and gave them a “feminine” spin. Four years after the debut of the original Batwoman, Green Arrow found he had to contend with… “The Amazing Miss Arrowette!”

In the “Green Arrow” back-up feature in World’s Finest Comics #113, cover-dated November 1960, writer Dave Wood and artist Lee Elias introduce us to Bonnie King, an archery champion who harbors a secret ambition -- to be Green Arrow’s partner in crimefighting.

Note that the girls participated in their archery tournament wearing high-heeled pumps. They may be sporty, but they’re ladies, too! After receiving her crown, Bonnie decides she is now qualified to pursue her life-long dream. Although she forgoes wearing a costume, she dubs herself “Miss Arrowette” and designs a quiverful of decidedly ladylike trick arrows.

The next day, after seeing the police summon Green Arrow and Speedy via the “Arrow-Signal” (of course), Bonnie speeds to the scene of a jewel heist in time to step in and save the day when the Battling Bowmen stumble on a loose manhole cover and are about to be run down by the theives’ getaway car.

Though the crooks try to flee on foot, Miss Arrowette is ready to apprehend them.

Leaving two criminals nailed to the wall of a building (by their jackets), Miss Arrowette slips away, as, having had time to recover their footing, Green Arrow and Speedy have captured the remaining two jewel thieves with their totally masculine “boxing glove” arrows. A day later, Bonnie intervenes again when our heroes try to prevent some heavily-armed burglars from cleaning out a warehouse full of fur coats. Unfortunately, in her haste, she dispatches the wrong arrow.

This blunder allows the gang to capture Green Arrow and Speedy in their purple truck, but as they speed off, Miss Arrowette immediately puts a rescue plan into operation.

She trails them in her white convertible to an abandoned oil refinery, where she engages in some clever reconnaissance using another of her trick arrows.

Amazingly, she is able to see in the reflection of her speeding mirror that Green Arrow and Speedy are being imprisoned inside an empty oil storage tank. Then, trusting that the criminals will not shoot the crimebusting duo dead in the meantime, she decides to return later that night, under cover of darkness. Unfortunately, when she does return, she loses her balance while getting Green Arrow’s attention and falls into the trap herself. Her quick-thinking saves her from serious injury.

Speedy takes their would-be savior to task for her incompetence, but his elder partner remains focused on the matter at hand. Green Arrow has the mysterious Miss Arrowette explain the function of all her remaining trick arrows, so he can use them and her bow (which luckily dropped into the oil tank as well) to effect an escape.

Somehow alerted to their captives’ escape, the gangsters come running up the stairs with guns blazing. However, Green Arrow is ready to put another of Bonnie’s inventions to good use, without feeling in the least bit emasculated.

After the “soft shaft” opens up into a “huge hair net” and ensnares the gunmen, Green Arrow and Speedy apprehend the lawbreakers. More importantly, Bonnie King learns a valuable life lesson.

As Bonnie departs, Green Arrow wonders whether their paths will ever cross again. They certainly would, in a couple of later issues, but then Bonnie King would be consigned to comic-book character limbo for some 35 years. Only in the last decade did she reappear, cast as a superhero “stage mom” pressuring her daughter to follow in her toxophilitic footsteps.

With her powder-puff arrow, hairpin arrow, lotion arrow, hair-tint arrow, mirror arrow, kerchief arrow, needle-and-thread arrow, and hair-net arrow, Bonnie King proved one could be a superhero and remain totally committed to cultural concepts of femininity. I suppose we can only count ourselves lucky that it was not necessary for her to employ her most unnerving weapon -- the tampon arrow.


Back Arrow

Post-OMU

In my previous post, I discussed in general terms where the Original Marvel Universe seemed to be heading when it came to an end circa 1991, based on where the characters were left off. By extending my OMU timeline out a bit beyond that, I realized that the climax of the entire overarching saga of the Marvel Universe was imminent. The two biggest storylines that were building to that climax were the inevitable war between humans and mutants (from the X-Men titles) and what would happen when Franklin Richards came into full possession of his mutant superpowers (from Fantastic Four). And best of all, those two storylines promised to intersect.

But, of course, the last thing Marvel wanted to do was bring its ongoing saga to its logical conclusion, which is probably the main reason they bailed on continuity when they did. Unfortunately, when you set up a number of heroic characters to have grand destinies, if they never achieve those destinies, then they cease to be super-heroes and become super-losers instead. Also, one of the main recurring themes of the early Marvel Universe stories, the tone set by Stan Lee and clarified by later writers such as Steve Englehart and Steve Gerber, could be summed up as “the rising and advancing of the spirit.” This is what gave the Original Marvel Universe the feeling that it was going somewhere, and not just spinning its wheels like Marvel’s current output. That theme was largely abandoned in the 1990s and the result was the Marvel Universe became a darker and darker place. The themes these days seem to be fatalism, nihilism, and entropy. In the Original Marvel Universe, however, that original theme is preserved and taken to its proper conclusion, a culmination of everything that occurred in over thirty years of published stories.

In the course of my readings of the OMU canon, it became clear to me that five characters in particular seemed marked for some special destiny, a greatness that, if properly channeled, could change the world immeasurably for the better. All one would need do is bring them together at the right moment. And that’s what happens here.

And so, below, I present an outline of what I believe to be the true “final chapter” of the saga of the Original Marvel Universe!

1975

The end of OMU stories. Tony Stark dies, despite attempts by certain parties to prevent the loss of his inventive genius by forcing him to upload his mind into a computer. District Attorney Blake Tower blocks all their efforts so that Stark can die with dignity.

The global security grid established by Quasar greatly reduces the number of alien incursions on the planet Earth.

As Franklin Richards turns 11, the Fantastic Four adopt new versions of their classic blue & black costumes.

The Hulk builds a new life for himself with Betty Ross and makes peace with the U.S. military.

The Avengers’ efforts to find Thor come to nothing. Likewise, no trace can be found of the Sub-Mariner.

Magneto becomes a martyr to a violent faction of mutants, causing tensions to increase. The Mutant Liberation Front comes to prominence, led by the mysterious Stryfe, who is secretly Cable in disguise. He seeks to play all sides of the mutant issue to fan the flames of war with the human race, a war he believes mutants will win and thus bring about the future world he grew up in. The X-Men remain unaware of Cable’s double-dealing as they try to re-establish their reputation as heroes.

1976

Ben Grimm marries Sharon Ventura.

Matt Murdock retires as Daredevil to become District Attorney for New York following the resignation of Blake Tower, whose career was systematically destroyed in retaliation for his role in allowing Tony Stark to die.

Captain America is highlighted as the Superhero of the Bicentennial.

Quasar proves himself by saving Eon from the threat posed by the cosmic being Oblivion, thereby fulfilling his prime duty as Protector of the Universe.

Jennifer Kale assists the Avengers on a few occasions, having met them through Quasar, and proves herself a formidable sorceress.

Captain Britain and Meggan are married.

Jimmy Carter is elected President of the United States.

1977

Peter Parker gives up being Spider-Man when Mary Jane has a baby, though he finds adjusting to retirement very difficult. He finds a full-time job in the sciences to support his family.

Johnny and Alicia Storm have a daughter, and so the Human Torch finally takes a leave of absence from the Fantastic Four.

When Meggan gets pregnant, Excalibur effectively disbands and Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, and Phoenix rejoin the X-Men.

Sam Guthrie breaks away from Cable’s increasingly violent splinter group and adopts the new identity Rocket Man, soon becoming the most popular superhero of the day.

The Hulk rejoins the Avengers and proves himself a hero to the world, while also using his scientific genius to solve the energy crisis.

1978

Wolverine finally discovers the whole truth about his past. He confronts Silver Fox, which leads the X-Men to work with Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. to bring down her branch of HYDRA. Wolverine then takes an extended leave of absence from the X-Men and returns to Canada.

Public opinion remains increasingly negative towards mutants due to the constant destruction caused by rival factions that the X-Men fail to contain.

Wundarr, also known as the Aquarian, meets with Doctor Strange and enlists the sorcerer’s disciple Topaz in his own cause.

Captain America’s health begins to deteriorate as the super-soldier serum starts to destabilize.

1979

Franklin Richards turns 15. Charles Xavier meets with Reed Richards to offer Franklin a place at his School for Gifted Youngsters when his mutant powers fully manifest. However, Wundarr turns up and talks Reed & Sue into letting him tutor Franklin instead. Reed & Sue realize they have doubts about the efficacy of Xavier’s methods and prefer Wundarr’s peaceful approach.

Ben & Sharon Grimm have twin sons.

When American hostages are taken in Iran, the Hulk leads the Avengers in to rescue them.

1980

Franklin Richards hits puberty and manifests his full mutant powers. He goes off with Wundarr and Topaz to learn how to use them properly at a secluded retreat in the Negative Zone.

Aunt May dies at the age of 86.

Captain America learns that his condition is terminal; he has about a year to live.

Charles Xavier is publicly “outed” as a mutant.

Tensions between humans and mutants are at an all-time high, and after President Carter is painted as “soft on mutants,” Republican challenger Ronald Reagan is elected to replace him in the Oval Office.

1981

The U.S. government activates its latest generation of Sentinels and so Cable sparks the long-brewing war between humans and mutants into a full-scale open conflict by destroying the city of Pittsburgh. Charles Xavier is killed during a retaliatory military attack on the X-Mansion. Rachel Summers fears the future she sought to prevent is coming to pass, but then she mysteriously disappears. Cyclops finally learns that Cable is his son as Cable’s true colors are discovered by all. Wolverine returns to the X-Men to lead them into their final battle, and his team finds itself forging unlikely alliances with mutants from all over the political spectrum. Unexpectedly, Quicksilver leads the Inhumans to fight at the X-Men’s side. They face a coalition of international government forces with an army of Sentinels, backed by S.H.I.E.L.D., high-tech mercenaries, and various superheroes. The Avengers are divided by the government’s call to arms and the team nearly disbands over the mutant issue. Cable manipulates both sides into waging the war’s first all-out battle in the heart of Manhattan. The destruction of New York City seems imminent when the conflict is abruptly ended by a new cadre of heroes, who are quickly hailed as the ultimate superhero team. They are dubbed “The Saviors.”

The Saviors make short work of the Sentinels and send Cable back to the future from which he came, while also plucking the infant Nathan Christopher Summers out of time and returning him to his father, Cyclops. Franklin Richards then restores the city of Pittsburgh, but explains that he cannot (or, perhaps, will not) raise the dead. They vow to work to bring about the peaceful coexistence of humans and mutants. Next, after saving Captain America’s life, they set about to “cure” / “fix” / “heal” every super-villain on earth, starting with Doctor Doom, until the threat from such beings is virtually eliminated. Finally, they even take on Mephisto and the other Hell-Lords, who are utterly destroyed once and for all, greatly reducing the influence of evil in the world. The Saviors prove to be completely unbeatable, and, thanks to Aquarian’s visionary leadership, they usher in a new age of peace and calm to the world. Ultimately, in the presence of Uatu the Watcher, the Elder God Gaea appears to the team and reveals that they are the culmination of what the Celestials began one million years ago, and their destiny is to help make the Planet Earth into a paradise.

THE END

Why These Five?

There is plenty of textual evidence to suggest that these five characters, allowed to reach full maturity in a normal time-scale, would make the most powerful superhero team ever assembled -- a superhero team that can accomplish what other superhero teams only dream about. And their appearance would also serve as the ideal climax to the epic saga of the Marvel Universe as it had been building for its first thirty years, before it went completely off the tracks.

Aquarian (Wundarr)
In Marvel Two-in-One #58, Wundarr communes with the Cosmic Cube and attains enlightenment. As he states to his friend Ben Grimm, “I have become the living son of the Cosmic Cube. I have the power to better the world. Henceforth I will call myself the Aquarian, after the star-system of my native planet. I will bring to the world the peace I have found.” He reiterates his mission before leaving Project: PEGASUS to wander the world. “It is my mission to open the way for a new age -- to bring mankind the peace I’ve found.” Soon growing a beard, the Aquarian is clearly a Christ-like figure with his talk of love and peace, and he even embarks on his own “forty days in the wilderness” to ponder how to go about his mission and to explore the limits of his heightened “null-field” powers. The parallel to Christ is especially obvious in his last canonical appearance in Marvel Comics Presents #46. And so, as post-OMU events in the superhero community reach a boiling point, Aquarian would be calmly assembling his small band of “apostles” and readying them for their mission. Foremost among them, of course, is the teen-aged Franklin Richards, whom Wundarr knows through his association with the Fantastic Four.


Fantastic Man (Franklin Richards)
Unlike the demented freak that he became in the Earth-616 continuity (see the excellent discussion of Franklin’s psychological problems at Enter the Story), the Franklin Richards of the Original Marvel Universe grew up in relative normalcy, given his unique circumstances. It’s unlikely that he went to public school, but was probably tutored at home in Four Freedom’s Plaza, where he received an excellent primary education. His friendship with the Power Pack would have aided with socialization, so no real worries there. And he lived in a warm, loving, and supportive family environment, with parents who demonstrated they would do whatever was necessary for his well-being. More likely than not, Franklin was all right, and he would aspire to carry on the altruistic tradition that his family established (See Fantastic Four Annual #14). The real turning point in his life would come as he approached puberty and Charles Xavier made his inevitable overtures to his parents to send him to join the X-Men’s novice class. But this is by no means the only option, and if Reed and Sue thought about it, they might question what, really, have Charles Xavier and the X-Men accomplished for human/mutant relations in 15 or so years? Xavier trains his students to fight, to be soldiers in his cause, however he might soften the truth with MLK-like rhetoric. Is that really the life they would want for their son? Would they want him turned into the X-Men’s ultimate weapon? If Wundarr, whom they implicitly trust, offered a different option -- a positive, peaceful, optimistic, almost Zen option -- wouldn’t they jump at the chance? And it is well established that Franklin has a special connection to the Negative Zone -- the only portal to which is inside his father’s laboratory, making it far away and nearby at the same time -- and thus it is the perfect isolated yet relatively safe place for his period of training. Plus, it would fulfill the Futurist’s prophecy in Fantastic Four #216. Thus, after a couple of years, Franklin Richards returns from the Negative Zone to become the distillation of everything his family has stood for -- he is essentially, the “fantastic one,” the Fantastic Man, the Man With the Power. As Franklin himself says in Fantastic Four #245, “With my power I can do anything.” He is undoubtedly the most powerful superhuman ever to walk the earth, with psychic powers at a cosmic scale that even Mephisto is no match for. And Mephisto has good reason to worry...


Catalyst (Topaz)
In Tomb of Dracula #64, Mephisto tries to destroy Topaz, for he fears the potential inherent in her empathic powers. As he says, “You are coming of age, and soon your power will be at its greatest! Indeed, at that moment, you shall possess power enough to destroy even we who call ourselves Satan! ... Your empathic abilities will eventually siphon away the evil we seek to create. Your powers will absorb all hatred and fear into you. Your powers can create a utopia! We cannot allow that to happen! You stand above the others -- for you possess the power of love -- and love is the one emotion of his we cannot destroy! You can spread that love. You can trample on the seeds of hatred which we sow.” However, forces outside of herself allow Topaz to access her fully-matured powers at that moment, and she unleashes them on Mephisto, who realizes he’s been set up by those same unidentified forces: “Suddenly we understand it all! He planted the knowledge of you in our mind. He wanted us to babble on, to speak to you of your future! Damn it all! He has made us the catalyst of our own doom!” Who exactly “he” is is left nebulous. As Mephisto is passing himself off as Satan in this story, the implication is he is referring to the Judeo-Christian God, but in terms of the Original Marvel Universe, it may be the mysterious One-Above-All or the same unknown Benevolent Entity that aided both Doctor Strange and Dracula’s wife Domini around this same time (if they are, in fact, separate beings). In any case, Topaz is able to cause Mephisto’s form to temporarily discorporate, just as Franklin Richards would manage to do later on. Unfortunately, Mephisto’s demon servants managed to trap her and ensorcel her, as explained in Doctor Strange v.2 #76, to nullify her powers even after she came of age. Eventually, Doctor Strange assists her in achieving that potential, as seen in Strange Tales v.2 #1. Topaz then begins a period of training so that she can learn to wield these powers to their fullest extent, and eventually hooks up with Doctor Strange again. With the Saviors, she can use her power not only to heal external wounds (like Doctor Doom’s face, for example), but she is also a “healer of the spirit,” as she puts it in Strange Tales v.2 #11. Therefore, she could also heal the madness in Doctor Doom’s mind, thereby not only ending the threat he poses, but turning him into a force for good in the world who uses his scientific genius for the benefit of all mankind. And so on with all the villains. Certainly a monumental task. But, if necessary, her power can be strengthened with the near-limitless Phoenix Force...


Phoenix (Rachel Summers)
As Rachel tells Necrom in Excalibur #50, “The Phoenix isn’t power in itself -- but it has the ability to tap into the elemental forces of the universe -- and they’re near infinite.” To demonstrate, Phoenix next battles Galactus into submission without breaking a sweat, as seen in Excalibur #61. However, Galactus reveals that the Phoenix maintains itself as a sentient entity on our plane of existence by drawing energy from “the sea of life yet unborn,” and thereby “denies existence to generations of the future.” Horrified, the Phoenix realizes it must revert to a non-sentient state and live only through Rachel. Before doing so in Excalibur #64, it gives Rachel this warning: “Do not be seduced by the infinite potential of life unborn. Take only from my strength. Accept its limitations.” Rachel takes the warning to heart and uses the power sparingly after being reunited with her friends. But still the Phoenix operates on a cosmic scale far beyond what most of Marvel’s characters can muster, and with several more years of experience would come the wisdom and skill to use it at its highest levels to do the greatest good. Plus, Rachel’s natural time-manipulation powers (what actually makes her a mutant) would enable her to sort out the Cable situation outlined above. Although in the Earth-616 continuity, Rachel eventually “lost” or was “rejected by” the Phoenix Force, in the Original Marvel Universe it remained as the Phoenix Force told her teammates in Excalibur #52: “One thing is certain. Now and forever, we are irrevocably merged.” With Rachel Summers, Franklin Richards, Topaz, and Wundarr assembled, there’s only one thing missing...


Sorceress (Jennifer Kale)
Even the awesome power of the other four members of this team might not save them from a mystical attack, as none of them has the slightest knowledge of magic. But Jennifer Kale, by now approaching 30 and with a decade of concentrated study of the mystic arts under her belt, would be the ideal candidate to serve as the team’s resident occult expert. Unlike many practitioners of the dark arts, Jennifer’s sunny personality and casual attitude would make her a good fit with her teammates. Of her potential as a sorceress there can be no doubt. As Dakimh the Enchanter says in Adventure into Fear #19, “young Jennifer’s name may one day be as hallowed as Zhered-Na’s own” and that “only greatness waits before her.” This is high praise considering Zhered-Na was still actively worshipped 20,000 years after her death. Furthermore, Dakimh was able to instruct Jennifer in the accumulated wisdom and occult secrets of three distinct ages of human civilization, and she even impressed Doctor Strange with her aptitude for magic. Therefore, along with Topaz, Jennifer Kale would be instrumental in the final defeat of the Hell-Lords and their demonic servants, and in freeing all the “souls” in their various infernal realms to finally enter the “Great Beyond.” Among those freed, of course, would be Thor. With this act, the Saviors prove themselves the ultimate superhero team -- and live up to their name -- because they not only save the living, they also save the dead.


Naturally, with such an awesome assemblage of supremely powerful do-gooders, the opportunities for exciting and dramatic superhero adventure tales kind of dwindle away. Without super-villains, the world of the Original Marvel Universe then becomes a fairly dull place, much like our “real” world. Which is why I consider the advent of the Saviors the end of the story for the OMU. While drama can be mined from any situation, and even a utopian Earth can give rise to adventurers (think Star Trek), it would be of such a different nature from what came before that it would almost be a separate thing unto itself. The Saviors represent for the Marvel Universe what some scholars term “the End of History.”

This is not, however, the end of our explorations of the late, lamented Original Marvel Universe!


Next Issue: Secret Invasions!

(Homo) Superior vs. Inferior (Five)

By 1966, industry leader National Comics (now better known as DC) was all too aware that the recently re-energized Marvel Comics was rapidly gaining on them in popularity. Upstart that it was, and keen to cultivate a hip image, Marvel was well-known for ribbing its competition, and the staid, conservative National proved an easy target. However, the editors at National were not above striking back, and the vehicle for one of their most elaborate spoofs of Marvel was their own lampoon of the superhero genre, the Inferior Five.

In their third try-out appearance in the anthology title Showcase (#65), written by E. Nelson Bridwell with art by Mike Sekowsky & Mike Esposito, the hapless team of superhero wannabees encounter this familiar-looking quintet of super-powered students:

The X-Men may have seemed ripe for parody at this time, as Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had already passed the book on to other creators (Roy Thomas & Werner Roth), who could not generate the same chaotic dynamism found in the title’s early issues. Although, as it was hardly one of Marvel’s top books, we can say it may have been too easy a target, and one may wonder why National singled this property out for special ridicule.

The tale opens at Dean Egghead’s Academy for Super-Heroes, as the entire staff walks out and leaves the Dean to fend for himself with his rambunctious students. Dean Egghead is a straightforward caricature of Professor X, and even shares his telepathic powers.

When no superheroes will answer the Dean’s call for help, he turns to the Inferior Five, recruiting them as his new faculty. As they enter his Academy for the first time, he introduces them to his five uncanny students. Rather than “mutants” like the X-Men, these students are described as being “atavistic,” i.e. throwbacks to earlier epochs. Therefore, instead of seeing the next stage in human evolution, we are presented with evolution working backwards, suggesting these characters are even more “inferior” than the Inferior Five.

The star pupil (who also gets the most “screen time”) is Harry McElhinney / The Ape, a bookish monkey-man who sends up Henry McCoy / The Beast.

Next we meet Irish Autumns / Basilisk, a clever parody of the similarly mythology-themed Scott Summers / Cyclops. Rather than red force beams, his eyes emit a white ray that turns people to stone. Despite the mis-aligned word balloon pointer, it is the Dean who is speaking.

We are then introduced to the brown-winged Melvin Murgatroyd XIV / Icarus, a tow-headed and uncouth youngster who is the opposite of the glamorous Warren Worthington III / The Angel.

Next up is Billy Gander / Winter Wonderlad, a goof on Bobby Drake / Iceman. Rather than turning into either a snowman or a human ice-sculpture, Billy becomes a walking iceberg by encasing himself in the stuff.

Lastly, we meet Penelope Pink / Levitation Lass, a dark-haired version of Jean Grey / Marvel Girl. With the help of the Inferior Five’s resident airhead, Dumb Bunny, Penelope immediately ditches her saggy-baggy school uniform for the more revealing version seen above.

Like the X-Men, the heroes-in-training at Dean Egghead’s Academy also have villainous counterparts, a rival team that is diametrically opposed to their do-gooding philosophy. Instead of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, we are presented with the Fraternity of Atavistic No-Goodniks.

Frog Man is an obvious analogue to the Toad, and Pterano Don Juan bears a passing resemblance to Mastermind. The Amoeba may be a take-off on the Blob, and I can only assume that Angel Fish must stand in for the Scarlet Witch. I guess there’s a sort of logic to replacing a witch with a mermaid, both being creatures of folklore. Their leader, Dr. Dinosaur, really has nothing in common with Magneto, but he is the only truly funny concept in the book, as his special power is that he has two brains – one in his head and one in his ass. Hence the two-pronged attack needed to bring him down:

Curiously, during the heroes’ field-trip to the big city, Bridwell throws in a random dig at the long-running rivalry between the Fantastic Four’s Thing and the Yancy Street Gang, which, while making for a decent gag, seems a bit out of place.

Marvel Comics would get a little of their own back about a year later with the publication of their own lampoon comic Not Brand Ecch, which would send up DC’s characters in a similar fashion.

Stan Lee has since said in interviews that he intentionally played up the idea of an intercompany rivalry “to make it fun” for the readers, and no doubt in order to inspire brand loyalty among the fans. He claims to have enjoyed a jovial camaraderie with the personnel over at National Comics, and the good-natured spoof of one of Marvel’s franchises seen in this issue of Showcase seems to support his view.

OMU: The End

Strange as it may seem, the end of the Original Marvel Universe was heralded by the return of Roy Thomas. The man who had done much to build Marvel’s continuity returned to it in the late 1980s after a long interregnum, but even he demonstrated little regard for maintaining what had since been established. Rather, along with lesser talents, he might be considered one of the architects of the Second Marvel Universe. At this time, by editorial decree, Marvel’s characters were frozen into a sort of limbo where character development quickly ground to a halt, replaced by story stunts that came and went with no lasting repercussions.

One of the hallmarks of the Second Marvel Universe was the unnecessary resurrection of any and all deceased characters, no matter how minor or irrelevant. Dracula, Baron Strucker, James MacDonald Hudson, Norman Osborn, the Mimic, the Creature from Kosmos, even Borgo, the hunchback of Castle Frankenstein -- none of these were allowed to rest in peace. This trend continued to the point where it became ludicrous, until “death” was a joke and resurrections no longer even needed to be justified or explained. The end result was the creation of a world in which actions had no consequences, and as such, stories had no drama.

What, then, is the Original Marvel Universe? It’s not Earth-616, to use the common classification system. No, Earth-616 is whatever Marvel says it is. I hold the Original Marvel Universe to a more rigorous standard. Think of it as an alternate reality, one where Everything You Thought You Knew Is... essentially correct. A reality where the Marvel stories are played out against a backdrop of real-world history, with characters that live and die, change, grow old, and learn. A reality where three decades’ worth of Marvel stories occur between 1960 and 1975, just as westerns, pirate tales, or sword & sandal epics are located in their own eras. As an alternate reality of the Marvel Multiverse, we might want to call it Earth-6111. Sixty-One Eleven.

So where does one reality end and the next begin? I set out to determine the exact point of transition for each Marvel series, and to thus discover the endpoint for the OMU version of Marvel’s characters. Once I knew where they all “left off,” I could imagine for myself where their lives likely went in the years to follow, based on the general direction the Marvel Universe had been heading for 30 years, as well as clues left scattered among myriad issues. I present my findings below.


Endpoints for the Original Marvel Universe


DOCTOR STRANGE, SORCERER SUPREME #8 (OCT 1989)
With the end of the four-part storyline “The Faust Gambit,” Doctor Strange regains many of the magic talismans previously lost to him, and also discovers the origins of both Mephisto and Satannish. The next issue brings several odd revisions to Strange’s backstory, including the idea that he grew up in rural Nebraska, signaling the shift to the Second Marvel Universe. This story then leads into the creative team’s wrongheaded decision to bring vampires back after their “final” destruction years before. Still, the OMU Doctor Strange makes numerous guest-shots until appearing for the final time in Namor #24.

POWER PACK #55 (APR 1990)
This is the last issue before the introduction of editorially-mandated changes to make the series “edgier,” produced by new creative team Mike Higgins and Tom Morgan. The changes they made were later retconned away, suggesting that the series shifts into the Second Marvel Universe at this point.

MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #50 (MAY 1990)
The next issue begins Rob Liefeld’s feeble attempt at a Wolverine solo tale, followed by a Wolverine / Hulk story-arc by Mike Higgins and David Ross that pointlessly resurrects Calvin Rankin, the Mimic, and is thus definitely set in the Second Marvel Universe. There’s a nice break with #50, although the Comet Man story in this issue is necessarily non-canonical. However, a special exception is made for Barry Windsor-Smith’s “Weapon X” series in issues #72-84, which does depict the Original Marvel Universe. The other stories in those issues are excluded from canon, though.

SILVER SURFER #38 (JUNE 1990)
There is a continuity break at this point, following Jim Starlin’s first story-arc in the series, in which he brings back his favorite creation, Thanos. The Silver Surfer appears subsequently in Daredevil and then makes his final canonical appearance in Silver Surfer Annual #3. The following issues of this series tie in with The Infinity Gauntlet, which takes place in the Second Marvel Universe.

QUASAR #12 (JULY 1990)
The next issue begins the ill-conceived “Journey Into Mystery” story-arc in which Mark Gruenwald dredges up numerous obscure characters who are better left dead. Thus, the series clearly shifts into the Second Marvel Universe at this point, although the OMU Quasar continues to appear in Avengers and elsewhere for a while.

ALPHA FLIGHT #86 (JULY 1990)
The next issue of this series begins a regrettable story-arc by Fabian Nicieza that brings James MacDonald Hudson back from the dead, signaling a shift into the Second Marvel Universe. However, Alpha Flight makes its final OMU appearance in Nicieza’s six-part story “The Crossing Line” in Avengers.

HULK #377 (JAN 1991)
The menace of the Hulk is ended once and for all as Leonard Samson finally succeeds in re-integrating the fractured psyche of Bruce Banner, with some unexpected help from Maynard Tiboldt, the Ringmaster. Coming to terms with the death of his mother at the hands of his father, Banner emerges from therapy permanently transformed into an intelligent green-skinned Hulk and starts a new, better chapter in his life. Breaking here affords the character something of a happy ending.

NICK FURY, AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D. #19 (JAN 1991)
The story-arc beginning in the next issue brings Baron Strucker back to life, thus moving the series into the Second Marvel Universe. The OMU Nick Fury makes several more guest-appearances until bowing out with a cameo in Excalibur #56.

GHOST RIDER #9 (JAN 1991)
There’s a continuity break with this issue, which features guest-appearances by X-Factor and the Morlocks. The next issue starts an extended storyline that brings back Johnny Blaze, signaling the shift into the Second Marvel Universe. The brief OMU career of Danny Ketch ends with a guest-spot in Thor #430.

AVENGERS SPOTLIGHT #40 (JAN 1991)
This is the final issue of this title.

MARVEL FANFARE #60 (JAN 1991)
This is the final issue of this title.

CAPTAIN AMERICA #383 (MAR 1991)
This 50th anniversary issue marks the ideal spot to transition out of the Original Marvel Universe, as there is a clear continuity break before the extended story-arcs that follow. The OMU Captain America continues to appear in Avengers for several months.

NEW MUTANTS #100 (APR 1991)
This is the final issue of this title, and shows the last of the New Mutants, Cannonball and Boom-Boom, leaving Xavier’s school with Cable and his new team. The replacement title, X-Force, takes place in the Second Marvel Universe, although the OMU Cable makes a few more appearances in Wolverine.

THOR #432 (MAY 1991)
It’s the end of the line for Thor, as Odin banishes the thunder god to Mephisto’s realm as punishment for killing his brother Loki. The final page, which shows Eric Masterson transformed into a replacement Thor, occurs only in the Second Marvel Universe.

PUNISHER #48 (MAY 1991)
The endpoint for the Punisher, whose series are barely canonical anyway, is based principally on his guest-appearances in other comics. His chronology suggests this is a good breaking point for his main title.

PETER PARKER THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #177 (JUNE 1991)
Spider-Man stops the rampage of Dagny Forrester, a.k.a. Corona, in the final canonical issue of this series. The next issue launches an extended story-arc that’s set in the Second Marvel Universe. As such, the scenes of Harry Osborn hearing voices in this issue, meant to set up the coming story, can be dismissed as non-canonical.

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #78 (JULY 1991)
Spider-Man teams up with Cloak & Dagger to defeat Firebrand and save most of his supporting cast from a burning building in the final canonical issue of this series.

FANTASTIC FOUR #354 (JULY 1991)
The last issue of Walt Simonson’s run on this series marks the end of OMU stories about the Fantastic Four. After escaping from the Time Variance Authority, the F.F. give up their black & white costumes and the Thing inexplicably changes back from his “stegosaurus” look to his “classic” form. His girlfriend, Sharon Ventura, has recently been cured of her own “Thing” state by Doctor Doom and is once more in human form. After a lame fill-in issue, the long run by Tom DeFalco and Paul Ryan begins, which is unquestionably set in the Second Marvel Universe.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #350 (AUG 1991)
Spider-Man gets his ass kicked by Doctor Doom (though it’s most likely really another Doombot) in his final canonical appearance. However, the concussion he suffers causes him to have hallucinations about his Uncle Ben, which helps Peter to finally come to terms with his guilt over his uncle’s death. Spidey comes out on top in the end, as he prevents Doom from killing the Black Fox and saves the world from an invasion by carnivorous insects. This issue ends Erik Larsen’s run on the book, signaling the transition into the Second Marvel Universe, home of the “Clone Saga.”

SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK #30 (AUG 1991)
With the next issue, John Byrne returns to the series and takes it in a new direction. Hence, this is an ideal endpoint for canonical stories. However, as this is a “humor” title, the events depicted herein must be taken with a grain of salt anyway.

PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #33 (AUG 1991)
There’s a convenient continuity break following the story-arc “The Kamchatkan Konspiracy.” This is the final appearance of the OMU Punisher.

CLOAK AND DAGGER #19 (AUG 1991)
This is the final issue of this title. Cloak & Dagger make their last canonical appearance in Web of Spider-Man #78, which, though published a month earlier, occurs later in the chronology.

X-FACTOR #69 (AUG 1991)
The penultimate chapter of “The Muir Island Saga” marks the final canonical issue of this series. The next issue acts as a transition into Peter David and Larry Stroman’s new team, which is set in the Second Marvel Universe, and as such can be dispensed with. This issue features the original X-Men’s long-awaited reunion with Charles Xavier.

UNCANNY X-MEN #280 (SEPT 1991)
The final chapter of “The Muir Island Saga” brings this series to a close as far as the OMU is concerned. With the help of his former students, Charles Xavier finally ends the menace of the Shadow King, which wraps up a long-running storyline. The post-Claremont era begins.

AVENGERS WEST COAST #74 (SEPT 1991)
The conclusion of the story-arc called “The Pacific Overlords” marks the endpoint of this series, as the team gains new members in the Living Lightning and the second Spider-Woman. Meanwhile, Tigra resigns from the team and the Wasp & Hank Pym finally retire.

AVENGERS #339 (OCT 1991)
A six-part saga called “The Collection Obsession” wraps up the canonical run of this series, as the team’s old foe, the Collector, meets his final fate. Also of note, Crystal (of the Inhumans) joins the team.

MARC SPECTOR: MOON KNIGHT #31 (OCT 1991)
Following the “Scarlet Redemption” storyline, Moon Knight recovers from his injuries and adjusts his priorities, seeking to become less an agent of vengeance and more a catalyst for redemption. Incidentally, the scenes featuring the Hobgoblin, which merely set up the next storyline, occur only in the Second Marvel Universe and can be ignored.

X-MEN #3 (DEC 1991)
Chris Claremont’s last X-Men story (until many years later) is the final OMU adventure of the team, and features the death of Magneto. After this, the series shifts into the Second Marvel Universe as Jim Lee and Scott Lobdell take over.

WOLVERINE #50 (JAN 1992)
With this issue, Wolverine’s solo series takes off in a new direction, signified by the return of his yellow & blue costume. Thus, it is the ideal endpoint for the OMU Wolverine and is the last we see of members of the X-Men.

DAREDEVIL #300 (JAN 1992)
A new day dawns in the life of the Man Without Fear as he finally brings down the Kingpin once and for all in the four-part “Last Rites” story-arc by D.G. Chichester and Lee Weeks. In the end, Matt Murdock finds himself readmitted to the bar and set up in a brand-new law office. Reflecting on recent events in his life, he re-dedicates himself to his battle for justice, both in the courtroom and on the streets. A perfect ending for the saga of the OMU Daredevil.

IRON MAN #277 (FEB 1992)
Iron Man teams up with the Black Widow in the last canonical tale of this series. The next issue ties in with the “Operation Galactic Storm” crossover event that occurs in the Second Marvel Universe. We leave Tony Stark still suffering from the rapid and irreversible degeneration of his central nervous system.

NAMOR #25 (APR 1992)
With some help from Wolverine and his cousin Namorita, the Sub-Mariner escapes from the H’ylthri, only to fall victim to the sorcerer Master Khan, who strips Namor of his memory and identity and banishes him to parts unknown. John Byrne’s series then jumps ahead six months, and into the Second Marvel Universe as well.

EXCALIBUR #67 (JULY 1993)
Alan Davis’ final issue on this title also marks the last story set in the Original Marvel Universe. In it, he presents the final chapter of the “Days of Future Past” saga, as Rachel Summers finally succeeds in saving her future world from the Sentinels. Nevertheless, she elects to return home with her teammates rather than stay in her native reality. Interestingly, this last OMU story does not even take place on Earth-616, but in an alternate future timeline (now known as Earth-811). I should note that Excalibur #20, 26-31, 53, and 57-60 are all non-canonical and depict the Second Marvel Universe.


A Note about Other Series:

Some Marvel titles from this era are wholly non-canonical and are set entirely within the Second Marvel Universe, including New Warriors, Darkhawk, Sleepwalker, Guardians of the Galaxy, Nightstalkers, and Todd McFarlane’s Spider-Man.


A Note about Annuals:

The 1990 Annuals are the last to be set in the Original Marvel Universe. These 16 comics break down into four separate storylines: “Days of Future Present” featuring the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, X-Factor, and the New Mutants; “The Terminus Factor” featuring Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, the Avengers West Coast, and the Avengers; “Lifeform” featuring the Punisher, Daredevil, the Hulk, and the Silver Surfer; and “Spidey’s Totally Tiny Adventure” which runs through the Spider-Man titles.


What Happens Next?

An intriguing question, and though we can never know for sure, a look at where the Original Marvel Universe leaves off can offer many suggestions and form the basis for reasonable speculations. Certainly, the landscape of the Marvel Universe would show some dramatic changes going forward.

For starters, three of its major heroes would be seen no more. Thor, banished by decree of Odin “for all eternity,” would certainly be freed from his imprisonment eventually, but several generations of men would probably pass before that time. It was 15 years, after all, that Thor was trapped in the form of Don Blake before being reunited with Mjolnir and assuming his true form once again, and that was punishment for a far more minor offense. It is entirely possible that Thor would remain banished / imprisoned until the coming of the true Ragnarok when the Asgardians reached the end of their current life cycle, sometime in the next 500 years. The Sub-Mariner was likewise banished by Master Khan “until the very end of time.” With his memory completely erased, he was teleported to the other side of the world from New York (perhaps to Indonesia or Hong Kong?) to live as a vagrant, just as he was when Johnny Storm found him in a Bowery flophouse 13 years earlier. Namor had spent a dozen years in amnesiac exile then, and it would probably be at least as long before he was found this time. Iron Man, though, died not long after the cessation of OMU stories, as his central nervous system failed from the effects of a parasitic techno-organism implanted in his body by his enemies. As he told the Black Widow, his body was “locked into an irreversible state of decline” and was failing faster than his technology could compensate. While it is certain that Tony Stark could have devised some means of transferring his consciousness into a suit of armor or a computer or some such, and live on indefinitely much as the Machinesmith or Arnim Zola did, I believe all the years Stark spent as Iron Man would have taught him that he would rather die as a man than live as a machine. It’s a good thing he did, too, for otherwise he would have existed for over ten thousand years and evolved into the immense super-computer called Baal, the last sentient thing on earth. This fate was avoided by sending the robot known as Mister Kline back in time to derail Foggy Nelson’s political ambitions. If Foggy had achieved high political office, he would have been pressured by interests determined not to lose Stark’s inventive genius into forcing Stark to upload his mind against his will. Since Mister Kline had been successful, Stark was able to pass peacefully into oblivion, and a terrible future was avoided.

Many of Marvel’s other heroes would continue on for some years, though age would begin to wear on them. Spider-Man turned 30 in the last year of OMU stories, and after finally coming to terms with his guilt for not stopping Uncle Ben’s killer when he had the chance, Peter Parker may very well have retired when his wife, Mary Jane, inevitably got pregnant. Nothing can change one’s priorities like becoming a father, and Peter just didn’t have the resources to support a family and be a superhero. Daredevil was pushing 40 by the time he finally defeated the Kingpin, and would be getting a bit too old for constant brawling. He probably shifted more to fighting injustice in the courtroom and less to putting on the red tights. Nevertheless, his hypersenses would serve him just as well as a lawyer until he eventually retired from that life as well. Nick Fury would be reaching retirement age soon, also. One of the good things about the OMU timeline is that it obviates the need for nonsense like the age-retarding “Infinity Formula.” The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. would only be 60 years old by the time of his final canonical appearance. The Hulk, benefiting from his new emotionally-balanced persona, could now turn his remarkable intellect, as well as his limitless strength, to the benefit of all mankind, and eventually would earn the public’s trust and be hailed as a great hero. Power Man and Iron Fist would renew their partnership following Danny Rand’s return, and Moon Knight, Cloak & Dagger, Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, Alpha Flight, and Power Pack would go on much as before. Doctor Strange would doubtless serve as Sorcerer Supreme for the next 500 years, as did the Ancient One before him.

The Avengers would continue their proud tradition, adding new members as older ones retired. It’s unclear what effects the super-soldier serum would have on Captain America in terms of aging, or how long his career would continue. In the last canonical issue of his own series, Steve Rogers celebrated the 35th anniversary of his becoming Captain America, though as he notes, he spent 18 of those years in suspended animation. Still, it’s unlikely the formula granted him immortality, or even much of an extended lifespan. Hank Pym finally gave up adventuring to return to full-time research while his ex-wife, the Wasp, also gave up the hero’s life to start a new career as Janet Van Dyne, Hollywood screenwriter. The Scarlet Witch and the Vision, their marriage dissolved, would build separate lives on opposite coasts. The Black Panther would likely turn his attention to producing an heir, to ensure Wakanda remained at peace as he grew older. Hercules and Sersi, being immortal, would continue on into the foreseeable future with little change.

The ranks of the X-Men grew as the original members rejoined and Professor Xavier recovered from his injuries. However, the long-brewing war between humans and mutants would draw ever closer, with Cable undoubtedly playing a crucial role in finally sparking the conflict. This war would lead the X-Men to meet their destiny, both individually and as a team, and would put Xavier’s dream to the ultimate test.

The Fantastic Four entered their final phase as Reed Richards was well into his 50s by the end of the OMU timeline, and Johnny Storm, in his early 30s, would be starting a family soon with his wife Alicia. Things were looking up for Ben Grimm, though, who found after returning from his trip aboard the Cross-Time Express that not only had he regained his normal “Thing” form, but that he could change to and from human form at will. Furthermore, he confirmed that he did not age appreciably as the Thing, and still had the body of a man in his mid-30s. As such, there was nothing to stop him from marrying his gorgeous girlfriend Sharon Ventura and enjoying life to the fullest. They also probably adopted new versions of their classic blue costumes again at this time. They would have a good four years before Franklin Richards hit puberty and his mutant powers fully kicked in, at which time he would possess the power to change the world. But that’s a story for another time.



Next Issue: And Then What?

OMW: Sharon Friedlander

For the latest in our series featuring the Obscure Marvel Women of the Original Marvel Universe, we present an ordinary nurse whose life was turned upside-down after a chance encounter with the world’s mutants. Forced to reckon with powers beyond her comprehension, she would find herself changed forever inside and out.

Sharon Friedlander was born towards the end of World War II to a Jewish family in suburban New York. Growing up in the 1950s, Sharon decided she wanted to become a nurse, and finally realized her ambition in the mid-1960s when she graduated from nursing school and found a position at the Mid-County Medical Center near Salem Center, NY in Westchester County.

Sharon’s life took an unexpected turn one night in the summer of 1972, during a ferocious thunderstorm, when Danielle Moonstar, a student from the nearby Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, was brought to the emergency room after having apparently been mauled by a large bear. Though her prognosis was poor, the doctors scrambled to try to save the girl’s life, and Sharon saw to making Dani’s friends comfortable in the waiting room for their long vigil. However, three hours later, while Sharon was being chatted up by Officer Tom Corsi of the Westchester County police, the pair was suddenly attacked by a shadowy, monstrous bear. Sharon heard Tom’s gun go off, and then everything went black.

To her horror, Sharon found herself and Tom transported to another dimension, which looked like an unspoiled version of America’s Great Plains, where they were prisoners of the giant Demon Bear that had attacked them. Dani’s friends were also present, but they now wore yellow-and-black costumes and demonstrated superhuman powers. Rather than fight its enemies directly, the Demon Bear transformed Sharon and Tom into hideous demonic warriors to do its bidding. Unable to resist the Bear’s will, they attacked the young heroes with bolts of black lightning and eldritch weapons. Still, Dani’s friends prevailed and the Demon Bear was destroyed. Its intended victims were cast back to earth as the Bear was torn apart. Unfortunately, upon reviving, Sharon and Tom found their physical features had been completely changed, leaving them looking like members of the Cheyenne Nation.

When Professor Xavier finally arrived, he invited the distraught Sharon and Tom back to his school, which they learned was really the headquarters of the mutant superhero team the X-Men, where Dani and her friends made up the novice class, the so-called “New Mutants.” They were accompanied by Dani’s parents, William and Peg Lonestar, who had been trapped within the Demon Bear’s form until it was destroyed. As such, they knew that Sharon and Tom’s transformation was permanent, and sure enough, despite a thorough examination, the team’s resident sorceress, Illyana Rasputin, failed to find any enchantment to return them to normal.

Unable to go back to their former lives, Sharon and Tom agreed to recuperate from their ordeal at Moira MacTaggart’s Mutant Research Centre on Muir Island, off the coast of Scotland, while Professor Xavier dealt with the ramifications of their sudden “disappearance.” He remained hopeful that their condition could be remedied, but as the months passed, no solution could be found. When Sharon looked in the mirror, she saw the face of a stranger. Her hair was much longer and coarser, her once-blue eyes were now dark, her skin had changed color, and she was noticeably taller. One beneficial side-effect of the change was discovered: they were both now essentially perfect physical specimens with strength and endurance enhanced to nearly-superhuman levels. This offered cold comfort to Sharon, although Tom seemed to have an easier time adjusting to his new body.

Come December, Sharon and Tom again fell victim to uncanny phenomena when another patient of Dr. MacTaggart’s, young David Haller, used his telepathic powers to absorb their minds into his own, leaving their bodies in a vegetative state. They were soon rescued by Professor Xavier with some of his students and were reunited with their physical forms. However, as a result of the ordeal, Xavier himself remained comatose for another two weeks, so Dr. MacTaggart asked Sharon to act as his nurse, which helped her feel useful again. Her training came in handy when Xavier suffered a severe psychotic episode some time before regaining consciousness.

In March 1973, Sharon and Tom were recruited to join the staff of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters by Magneto, the reformed super-villain who became the new headmaster when Professor Xavier went into outer space for an extended period. Sharon was glad for the chance to return to the United States and work as a nurse again. Though she still felt cut off from her old life, Sharon enjoyed working with the New Mutants and tried to provide a balance for Magneto’s hard-driving approach. The X-Men were more intimidating, but Sharon eventually grew comfortable around them as well, and by summertime she had settled into a happy routine.

However, in October, a cosmic entity with godlike powers known as the Beyonder, who had been wreaking havoc on earth for several months, decided to punish the New Mutants for a perceived slight by killing them and then erasing all memory of their existence. Thus, Sharon and Tom entered a kind of fugue state for many weeks, living on the now-empty Xavier estate, until the Beyonder finally undid what he had wrought. The school was re-created exactly as it was before, and the New Mutants were resurrected, although the experience had caused them severe psychic trauma. Sharon did what she could to help them, but soon realized she was out of her depth.

By January 1974, Sharon, Tom, and Magneto were at their wit’s end as to getting the students the help they desperately needed. But then, while hiking on the grounds, Sharon and Tom spotted an intruder spying on the mansion and recognized him as one of the Hellions, a rival team of young mutants from a school in Massachusetts. Contemptuously, the boy called Empath unleashed his mutant power to control people’s emotions, causing Sharon and Tom to be overcome suddenly with an insatiable lust for each other. Though rationally they knew they were being manipulated, they could not resist the passion they felt, and the two went on a sexual bender that dragged on for weeks. Like drug addicts, the pair sought increasingly intense experiences to satisfy their need, and fled to New York City for its sadomasochistic underworld. There, they experimented with shaving, piercing, and hard-core bondage, finally being locked into leather fetish costumes which they could not entirely remove. All the while they felt more and more hollow inside. Though death seemed their only release, they refused to give Empath that satisfaction, and somehow found the strength to drag themselves back to Xavier’s School. Sharon collapsed from exhaustion before they arrived, and Tom carried her into the mansion before his own strength gave out. Magneto released them from their fetishwear and carried them to the infirmary where he and another teacher, Stevie Hunter, looked after them. Learning what Empath had done, Magneto swore vengeance, but was forced to set it aside when the Hellions’ mentor, Emma Frost, was needed to lend her telepathic talents to the New Mutants’ recovery.

Though free from Empath’s influence, Sharon and Tom both sunk into a severe depression and felt alienated from each other for the first time. The memories of their sexual escapades were too raw, causing both to withdraw into themselves and avoid the other, as well as to shun human contact in general. Sharon only began to come out of her funk many weeks later when the X-Men converted their headquarters into a medevac center following a massacre of the Morlocks, a population of mutants living underneath New York City, by a band of assassins called the Marauders. While battling the Marauders, a number of the X-Men were themselves badly wounded. Sharon struggled to keep up with the patient load as Dr. Moira MacTaggart was called in for her medical expertise. Fortunately, Wolverine managed to rescue a Morlock with the power to heal people with a touch, and he was able to stabilize many of the worst cases. Finally, due to the lack of proper facilities and the danger from their enemies, the X-Men decided to evacuate all the wounded to Muir Isle, where Sharon and Tom again took up residence.

That summer, Sharon met the Fantastic Four when Magneto attempted to enlist the help of Reed Richards to stop the molecular discorporation of Shadowcat due to injuries suffered during the fight with the Marauders. When Richards proved unable to help, the team turned to the villain Doctor Doom, who promised to succeed where his rival had failed. Thus, the X-Men took Shadowcat to Latveria, where Doom and Richards worked together and saved her life.

As their other patients recovered, Dr. MacTaggart opened Muir Isle to the “Warpies,” a group of children mutated by the phenomenon known as the Jaspers Warp, as part of an agreement with two British-based agencies, the Weird Happenings Organisation (WHO) and the Resources Control Executive (RCX). Dealing with these unfortunate children and their bizarre mutations helped Sharon put her own transformation into perspective, and her outlook on life improved. They were saddened, however, by news reports that the X-Men had sacrificed their lives to destroy a monster in Dallas, Texas.

Many months passed as Sharon and Tom settled into their new lives at the Mutant Research Centre. Things began to change, though, in the spring of 1975 after former X-Man Polaris arrived on the island. Sharon suddenly found herself embracing the darker aspects of her personality, and Tom developed a new fascination with big guns. Dr. MacTaggart also began to dress more provocatively and adopted a harsher, more confrontational tone. The quiet of the island was shattered soon after when the Centre was attacked by a group of mutant-killing cyborgs called the Reavers. Dr. MacTaggart ordered everyone into the standard X-Men uniforms she had devised, which in addition to affording protection from environmental extremes, also acted as body armor, being essentially bullet-proof. Sharon found she enjoyed wearing the skintight costume and liked the way it highlighted her physique. The Reavers were driven off with the help of Freedom Force, the U.S. governments’ mutant taskforce, but Sharon continued to wear her costume in any case.

As Polaris had revealed that the X-Men were still alive and in hiding, Dr. MacTaggart’s lover, Sean Cassidy, a.k.a. Banshee, set off with a man called Forge to find them. Following their departure, the situation on Muir Isle quickly worsened as everyone succumbed to their most evil inclinations and basest instincts, for they were all unwitting victims of the sinister telepath known as the Shadow King. As such, Dr. MacTaggart allied herself with the sorceress Amanda Sefton and took Polaris prisoner, hooking her up to a strange device they called the Nexus to amplify the Shadow King’s power. Sharon saw to the prisoner’s physical needs and found herself delighting sadistically in Polaris’ helplessness. Furthermore, Dr. MacTaggart established a gladiatorial arena where the island’s mutant residents would battle for the entertainment of the others. Sharon was responsible for patching up the losers so they could fight again, to which end she forced the Morlock Healer to tax his abilities to the limit.

Finally, Banshee and Forge returned to the island, having brought the X-Men with them. They confronted the Shadow King, whose plans they had since discovered, and were joined by Professor Xavier, just returned to earth, and the team X-Factor, made up of his original students. In the course of their showdown, though, the Mutant Research Centre was obliterated by a tremendous explosion that scorched a large area of the island’s surface. Luckily, Sharon, Tom, and some others were protected from the blast in the complex’s lowest sub-level. Ultimately, by disrupting the Nexus and freeing Polaris, the X-Men severed the Shadow King’s link to the physical world and his psychic essence was destroyed, thus freeing everyone on the island from his vile influence. Sharon was horrified at having been victimized yet again.

Having lost her own facilities, Dr. MacTaggart decided to return to America temporarily to help the X-Men re-establish their headquarters at the mansion in Westchester County, which also needed to be rebuilt. Sharon and Tom went along to resume their former duties at Xavier’s, though the “school” no longer had any actual students. Once the X-Men had everything up and running, Sharon Friedlander took stock of her life and realized she needed to look to the future.



First Appearance: New Mutants #19

Final Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #278



Next Portrait

OMU: Captain America -- Year One

Captain America returned from over nine years in comic book limbo just six weeks after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Like the United States itself, Steve Rogers awoke to face a shocking tragedy that would cause profound changes to his character and lead him to question his very identity. In Avengers #4, Jack Kirby (who had created the character in 1940 with then-partner Joe Simon) and Stan Lee (who had written many of Cap’s previous adventures) resurrected the character with a stunning revelation -- the last thing he remembered was the fiery death of his kid sidekick, Bucky. Given the schedule for publishing comics, this story was certainly conceived and drawn some time before JFK was killed, and the reason for Bucky’s death was both to add some emotional baggage to Cap’s winning personality and because Stan hated the whole concept of “kid sidekicks” like Robin, Speedy, and Kid Flash. But the death of Bucky could have merely been used for a revenge-plotline to reintroduce Captain America and then forgotten. Instead, in the months that followed, Stan and Jack tapped into the current zeitgeist and led Cap on a journey of self-exploration as he mourned this unexpected death and re-evaluated his place in the world. The character became far richer as a result, and rather than serving as a vehicle for Allied propaganda as in the past, he could now be used to explore America’s ideals in contrast to a world of moral ambiguity and social unrest. America had changed, and Stan and Jack provided a new Captain America to meet its new challenges.

Note: The following timeline depicts the Original Marvel Universe (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See previous posts for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.


Now, so proudly we hail… The True History of Captain America!


January 1945 – Steve Rogers begins a new year as Captain America in Belgium, fighting with American and British forces to stop the German army from pushing westward through the forests of the Ardennes. The tide has turned against Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime as the Allied Powers have hammered away at them on two fronts, and Cap is hopeful that the war in Europe may finally be winding down. Whether working solo or with his teammates in the Invaders, Captain America has served as a symbol of his country’s fighting spirit, inspiring the rank-and-file soldiers with his own brand of colorful heroism. Armed with nothing but his famous indestructible shield, a marvel of modern science, Cap often leads the charge against enemy forces. Other times he has undertaken special missions which have led him all around the globe, battling tirelessly to prevent Nazi perversions of science from giving the Axis an unfair advantage in the war. He does not dwell on the irony that it was a similar tampering with the forces of nature that brought him to the pinnacle of human physical perfection.

He can scarcely believe that it was only five years ago that a scrawny, sickly kid from New York City, so frail that he was rejected by the U.S. Army when he went to enlist, was transformed into the first and only “super-soldier” by the secret process created by Dr. Abraham Erskine. After Erskine was killed by a Nazi agent, the government had been forced to abandon Operation: Rebirth and instead turned Rogers into the costumed hero known only as Captain America. Months later, Cap had acquired a teen-age sidekick, Bucky, after the young orphan James Buchanan Barnes discovered his secret identity. The duo had immediately captured the public’s imagination as they battled Nazi spies and saboteurs in the United States. Then, as America entered the war, Captain America and Bucky had joined with the Sub-Mariner, the Human Torch, and his sidekick Toro in forming the Invaders to confront the Axis powers directly in Europe. Since then, the team had gained new members, such as Spitfire, Union Jack, the Whizzer, and Miss America, and struggled constantly to defeat one bizarre menace after another.

Now, during lulls in the fighting, Cap finds himself brooding on some of the personal losses he has experienced in the last few months. His sidekick, Bucky, had reached his eighteenth birthday and surprised the Invaders by announcing that he was resigning from the team and abandoning his costumed identity to enlist in the U.S. Army as a regular soldier. After years living in Cap’s shadow, Bucky was determined to prove himself as a man. Their mission to Greymoor Castle, where they dealt a severe blow to the German rocket program, had proved to be their last adventure together. It was shortly after that that Cap had gone to France to help with the liberation of Paris, and had fallen in love with a beautiful American girl who had joined the French Resistance. Though they knew each other only by code-names, they had begun to plan a future together after the war. But then she was captured by the Gestapo and disappeared during the liberation of the city. Cap had searched frantically, but could find no trace of her, and none of her comrades in the Resistance could locate her. She had seemingly vanished off the face of the earth. Not knowing whether she’s alive or dead, Steve Rogers has sought to bury his heartbreak in combat, and has become a much more grim, battle-weary figure than the Captain America of the early days of the war.

February 1945 – The Invaders are summoned together again to protect President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill as they meet Soviet Premier Josef Stalin in Yalta on the Black Sea. Captain America, the Human Torch, the Whizzer, and Miss America escort the American president to the conference while the Sub-Mariner, Toro, Spitfire, and Union Jack guard the British prime minister. As the leaders meet, the Invaders prevent the summit from being disrupted by the latest incarnation of the Super-Axis, led by their perennial foes Master Man and Warrior Woman. After an epic battle that rages all across the resort community, the Axis agents are driven off. When the conference ends, Cap bids a brief farewell to his teammates, confident that they will soon meet again, then heads into Germany on a solo mission behind enemy lines.

Having learned that the Red Skull is constructing some kind of doomsday device to be activated following Germany’s inevitable defeat, Captain America heads to Berlin to stop him. Along the way, he meets up with an old friend, Roger Aubrey, who has been fighting the Nazis within Germany for nearly three years as the fearsome Destroyer. With the Destroyer as his guide, Cap makes it into the Nazi capital city and soon discovers the Red Skull’s hidden bunker. Going on alone, Cap fights his way through the Red Skull’s guards to confront his nemesis face-to-face.

Cap chases the Red Skull into a labyrinth of darkened tunnels, determined to seize the strongbox his enemy is carrying, but the Skull suddenly produces a grenade. With split-second timing, Cap hurls his shield, striking the Skull full in the chest and causing him to drop the grenade. It explodes behind him, and the Red Skull takes the brunt of the blast. A portion of the tunnel wall also collapses, and the Skull is pinned beneath the rubble. As Cap stands over his fallen foe, he finds the Red Skull is still alive, saved by a layer of body armor under his olive drab jumpsuit. Dazed, the Red Skull remains defiant, announcing in his raspy voice that Cap is too late to stop his plans, and that his “Sleepers” will one day awake, and on that day the Third Reich will rise again. Before Cap can learn more, Allied bombs rain down on the city, causing the bunker to collapse. The Red Skull is buried under tons of rubble, but Captain America manages to get the strongbox and escape to the surface.

Heading southwest across Germany, Cap eventually rendezvous with U.S. Army forces, and delivers the strongbox to Allied Intelligence. Remaining with the unit for a few days, Cap is then present for the liberation of the Diebenwald Concentration Camp. Though he had heard reports of the atrocities committed in the Nazi camps, experiencing the horrors of the Holocaust firsthand is almost more than Cap can bear. His mind reels at the scope of the inhumanity he witnesses; however, he steels himself and helps ensure an orderly take-over of the camp and lends aid and comfort to the half-dead prisoners.

Upon reporting back to his superiors in London, England, Captain America requests permission to focus his energies on liberating the rest of the Nazi concentration camps as soon as possible. Instead, he is ordered to an Allied military installation on Britain’s east coast, where, it has been learned, his old enemy Baron Zemo is planning to steal an experimental drone plane. Furthermore, Cap is informed, assigned to the base security detail he will find one Pvt. Bucky Barnes. Though he feels liberating the camps is more important, Cap follows his orders, glad for the chance to see Bucky again.

March 1945 – Captain America arrives at the top-secret base by the North Sea and is greeted by his old pal Bucky, who has been briefed on Cap’s mission. While on patrol, they have a chance to catch up. Cap tells his former partner of what he witnessed at Diebenwald, and they also discuss the controversial firebombing of Dresden a fortnight ago. Bucky says he heard about the Invaders’ big battle at Yalta, but doesn’t regret his decision to retire and become a regular G.I. Nevertheless, Cap assures Bucky he had long since come to think of him as a partner rather than a sidekick. As night falls, Cap decides to go incognito so as not to scare Baron Zemo off, for they hope to capture him. Thus Cap straps his shield to his chest (as a safety precaution) and puts a standard U.S. Army uniform on over his costume, while removing his mask and gloves. He and Bucky, also wearing his regulation uniform, then take a motorcycle and head off to check the perimeter of the base.

As they roar past the hanger where the experimental drone plane is housed, they see the shadowy form of Baron Zemo initiating an unauthorized launch. Cap guns the engine and chases the small aircraft down the runway. When he gets close enough, Bucky makes a death-defying leap onto the plane and scrambles up to its control panel. Cap manages to grab the back end of the plane as the ground falls away beneath them. Twisting wildly while trying to find a solid handhold, Cap spots an exultant Zemo on the ground and realizes the plane must be booby-trapped. He yells to Bucky to jump, but Pvt. Barnes is determined to disable the explosives and save the plane. Seconds later, a tremendous explosion rips the plane apart, the force of the blast throwing Cap clear. As he falls toward the frigid waters of the North Sea, Cap screams in horror as he sees Bucky’s body consumed in the fireball.

Cap hits the water hard and blacks out. He has a vague feeling of drifting though a long, cold dark.

Then nothing.

November 1962 – Slowly, Captain America regains his senses. His mind is in a fog at first, his thoughts jumbled and his perceptions distorted. His body feels stiff and damp and cold. He hears muffled voices, the faint hum of engines, and the buzzing of an insect near his face. Then, he is shocked awake as the memory of Bucky’s death returns, and he leaps to his feet and scuffles with his rescuers. A moment later he collapses, overcome with grief. However, his years of battle training quickly take over, and he realizes that he is inside some kind of vessel, a highly-advanced submarine, and he turns to confront the strangers surrounding him. He first sees a man in scarlet and gold armor, then a hammer-wielding muscleman with long blond hair and a red cape. He is startled to see a twelve-foot giant in a red costume, and then discovers the insect he heard is in fact a woman. Naturally, he suspects they must be a new band of Nazi super-agents, but during a second brief altercation, he determines that they are Americans and stops the fight. For some reason, these people seem dubious that he is really Captain America, but he soon convinces them he is genuine. They introduce themselves as Iron Man, Thor, Giant-Man, and the Wasp, all members of a team called the Avengers. Cap is stunned when they then claim that the Second World War has long since ended, and that he has apparently been “frozen” in suspended animation for nearly 18 years. Though they seem sincere, he just can’t bring himself to believe it. He tries to tell them about Bucky’s death, to explain how he came to be in the water, but he struggles to remember more than the most basic details. He is disturbed that he can’t quite remember who it was they were attempting to capture or where it had all happened. Wearied by the mental effort, Cap retires to a bunk as the Avengers assure him they will be back in New York in a couple of hours. Though confused, suspicious, and disoriented, Cap succumbs to exhaustion and falls asleep.

When Cap awakes, the ship’s engines have gone silent. He finds the vessel deserted; his rescuers have left him behind. Prepared for a trap, he climbs a ladder out of the escape hatch and emerges into the bright light of day. What he sees, however, is the skyline of New York City -- much as he remembers it, but also much changed. Strange new buildings stand among the more familiar towers. He recognizes that he is on a pier in the East River, and sees oddly gruesome stone statues of the Avengers standing nearby. Some weird monument to the team, he thinks. Wandering into the city, he notes the unfamiliar fashions worn by the people in the street, and marvels at the automobiles, which look like something out of science fiction. After following the river north about 20 blocks, he comes to an imposing edifice with the world’s flags arrayed around it, and discovers it is the headquarters of something called the “United Nations.” East River Drive is now a huge highway named after Franklin D. Roosevelt. New York has changed. The truth of the Avengers’ assertions is undeniable. Steve Rogers has suddenly become a man out of time, a modern-day Rip Van Winkle. His mind reels. The war is over. And the world has moved on.

Still feeling weakened, Cap finds his way to a nearby hotel and checks into a room. While pulling off his boots, he sees that televisions have become commonplace and he stares dumbfounded at the evening programming. He feels drained of energy and unable to focus his thoughts. He searches his memory but his mind is filled with darkness. He finally falls back onto the bed and drifts into a fitful sleep. However, he is soon awakened by an intruder, whom he first mistakes for Bucky. The young man gives his name as Rick Jones, and says he has followed Cap’s trail across town in search of the Avengers. The boy is clearly agitated, and makes vague threats involving someone called “the Hulk.” Cap volunteers to join the search for the missing team, and they set off immediately. Rick takes him to the local headquarters of a nation-wide network of young ham radio enthusiasts called the Teen Brigade, whose members don’t quite know what to make of Captain America. They begin studying news photos of the Avengers’ arrival at the pier, and in an enlargement Cap spots a man in the crowd of reporters holding what looks like a futuristic gun rather than a camera. Rick then enlists all Teen Brigade members in a city-wide manhunt for the man in the photo.

Through the night and into the morning the search continues, as the Teen Brigade members call in leads and Captain America follows up on them. With a mission to carry out, Cap feels his mind clearing and his sense of purpose returning. Running along the rooftops of the city makes him feel refreshed and energized. Finally, one of the leads pays off and Cap spots his quarry through a window. Without hesitation, Captain America crashes into the apartment, but his arrival brings several gunmen bursting through the door, firing away. Instinctively, Cap hurls himself into their midst, easily overcoming them with his fighting prowess. He disarms the man with the strange gun and pulls off his mask, revealing him to be a green-skinned alien. The gunmen flee in horror. As the strange being surrenders, Cap compels him to admit that the “statues” of the Avengers on the pier were in fact the heroes themselves, turned to stone by his unearthly technology. The remorseful alien also reveals that he committed this crime as part of a deal with the Sub-Mariner, who promised to raise his sunken spaceship in return. The name strikes a dim chord of recognition in Cap’s beclouded mind, but he dismisses the thought to focus on the matter at hand -- the resuscitation of the Avengers.

Cap and Rick escort the alien back to the pier, to the warehouse where the petrified Avengers are in storage. He reverses the settings on his gun and returns the team to normal. Moved by the alien’s plight, the Avengers agree to salvage his ship with no strings attached. It is morning again by the time the Avengers locate the ship, sunk just off a small uninhabited island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Grateful for Cap’s help, the team has invited him and Rick to see this adventure through to the end, and so the super-soldier joins Giant Man for a deep-sea dive to examine the wreck. By afternoon, they have completed their preparations, and with the help of Thor’s enchanted hammer, they succeed in freeing the craft from the sea bed. Impressed by their teamwork, Cap begins to wonder if he might find a place among the Avengers. Though he can’t remember why, he seems to feel he belongs on a team of superheroes. Before he can broach the subject though, they are attacked by the Sub-Mariner and his blue-skinned warriors. A sudden explosion hurls Cap into the sea, but he quickly recovers and swims back to the rocky shore. However, awed by the sheer power of Iron Man and Thor, as well as the devastating weaponry of the Atlantean warriors, Cap decides to hang back to observe the battle, taking the Avengers’ measure. But when the Sub-Mariner announces that he holds Rick Jones hostage, Cap leaps into the fray. He frees Rick, then battles the Sub-Mariner, unaware that they had once been comrades-in-arms. The island is rocked by the launch of the alien spacecraft, and the Atlanteans retreat to the ocean depths, convinced their foes will die when the island sinks. The tremors subside, though, as the ship disappears into the sky, and the Avengers regroup. Impressed by what they have seen of Captain America, the Avengers offer him full membership on the team, and he accepts.

Upon returning to New York, the Avengers invite Cap to stay at the team’s headquarters in the Stark mansion on Fifth Avenue, overlooking Central Park. There he meets the team’s benefactor, a world-renowned inventor named Tony Stark, and is also introduced to the butler, Edwin Jarvis, who prepares a room for him. During supper, Cap learns from Jarvis how the Allies ultimately won the war, and is shocked and saddened to hear that President Roosevelt did not live to see the final victory. He learns also of the devastating nuclear bombs that ended the war with Japan and ushered in the so-called Atomic Age. Cap is not so surprised to discover that General Eisenhower was elected president a few years after the war, and listens intently as Jarvis gives him an overview of the current state of the world, particularly with regard to the “Cold War” against the Soviet Union. The more Cap tries to recall his past, the more he realizes how much he seems to have lost. Much of the war now seems like a blur. Over the next couple of days, Cap finds himself at the center of a media frenzy, but he devotes himself instead to his training regimen, trying to determine if he has suffered any permanent physical damage as a result of his years in suspended animation. Only by keeping busy in this way can he stop himself from dwelling on Bucky’s death.

For his first official mission, the Avengers take Captain America to New Mexico to search for the Hulk, a mysterious green-skinned brute with superhuman strength who has been terrorizing the region for many months. Unfortunately, the trail is cold, even though the Avengers have enlisted the help of Rick Jones, who clearly knows more about the Hulk than he’s willing to tell. Hearing news reports that the Hulk is now on a rampage in New York City, the Avengers race back to their Fifth Avenue headquarters. Cap notes the concern in his teammates’ faces as they learn the Fantastic Four, the preeminent superhero group of the day, has failed to stop the Hulk’s rampage. Finally, the green goliath arrives at the mansion to confront his former teammates, and Captain America gets his first look at the incredible Hulk. Fueled by rage over a perceived betrayal, the Hulk attacks the entire team at once, and Cap is awed by his sheer unstoppable power. The brawl only ends when the Hulk grabs Rick, smashes through the wall, and storms off. The Avengers catch up to them down the street and Cap occupies the Hulk until his teammates arrive, but then things go awry when the Fantastic Four interfere in the battle. For a moment, Captain America mistakes Johnny Storm for the original Human Torch, but he has no time to pursue the fleeting memory. Taking advantage of the confusion, the Hulk again grabs Rick and makes his escape. The Avengers and the Fantastic Four work out their mutual frustration and agree to work together to capture the Hulk. Thus, the two teams pursue their quarry to a construction site on East 63rd Street. The half-finished skyscraper is demolished in the battle, but despite the best efforts of the assembled heroes, the Hulk manages to dive into the river and escape. Though disappointed, the Avengers and the Fantastic Four part on friendly terms, and Cap has a moment to get acquainted with Mister Fantastic and the Thing, both of whom are veterans of the Second World War. Captain America then returns with his teammates to their headquarters to inspect the damage before they all go their separate ways.

Feeling he has nowhere else to go, Cap offers to teach Rick some hand-to-hand combat techniques and military strategy, and finds him to be an eager student. Though Rick bears a passing resemblance to Bucky, Cap soon realizes he is rather a lonely and disaffected teen, haunted by experiences he refuses to discuss. And though Rick clearly has hopes of becoming Cap’s new partner, Cap doesn’t feel he can face shouldering that responsibility again, especially not while the fate of Bucky’s killer remains unknown.

December 1962 – Captain America takes a trip to Washington, D.C. to re-establish contact with the War Department, which he finds is now called the Department of Defense. Unfortunately, the government bureaucrats aren’t sure what to do with him. While at the Pentagon, he is saddened to learn that his old C.O., General Chester Phillips, has since died. Cap inquires after his personal effects, only to learn that much of his property, put in storage after he disappeared, has been lost. He is assured that if anything is found, he will be notified. Cap is then escorted to the White House for dinner with President John F. Kennedy, who tells Cap of his own service during the war aboard the PT-109. Cap tries to downplay his post-cryogenic amnesia, leading to several awkward moments. At the end of the evening, Captain America heads off into the darkness to wander the National Mall alone, wondering if there’s a place for Steve Rogers in this world of the future. Finally, he returns to New York, feeling frustrated and discouraged.

A week or so later, Cap is performing an acrobatic exhibition for the benefit of Rick Jones and his friends in the Teen Brigade when Thor arrives to summon him to an emergency meeting of the Avengers. Within the hour, the team jets back to New Mexico to investigate a series of disasters caused by powerful sound waves. Arriving at a military installation commanded by a General “Thunderbolt” Ross, the heroes find the source of the strange phenomenon is a huge boulder slowly pushing its way up out of the ground. Iron Man tunnels under the weird rock to discover that it is the primary weapon of an invading army of subterranean beings known as Lava Men, whom Thor has encountered before. Since the thunder god is the only Avenger capable of withstanding the intense heat of the Lava Men’s domain, Thor goes on alone while Captain America and Iron Man return to the surface to prevent any of the Lava Men from exiting the tunnel while Giant Man and the Wasp try to figure out a way to safely destroy the monolith. However, things go from bad to worse when the team is suddenly attacked by the revenge-seeking Hulk. Captain America realizes that they can turn the situation to their advantage by maneuvering the Hulk into the right spot to destroy the boulder before its sonic blasts can do any more damage. The resulting implosion stuns the Avengers, and when they recover, they find the ground where the monolith stood has been transmuted into a sheet of glass. With the threat ended and the Hulk nowhere to be found, the Avengers head for home.

Iron Man brings an offer from Tony Stark to incorporate the latest technological advancements into Cap’s shield, such as a magnetic retrieval device and a communications system. Though dubious that such gadgets would be an improvement, Cap accepts the offer. Stark’s work is impressive, but Cap feels that the shield is now slightly off-balance. He decides to see if he can get used to it before asking Stark to remove everything.

The Avengers are soon called to arms again when New York City is menaced by a squad of super-villains. Cap learns that the Melter, the Radioactive Man, and the Black Knight have each recently fought one or another of his teammates and have now joined forces as the Masters of Evil. The villains wreak havoc by spraying Adhesive X, a super-strong glue, all around town. Captain America immediately recognizes it as the work of his enemy Baron Heinrich Zemo, jogging a memory of one of their previous encounters. The Avengers obtain an extremely powerful solvent from an incarcerated criminal known as Paste-Pot Pete and then initiate a bold plan with the help of Rick Jones’ Teen Brigade. Cap formulates a strategy that has the other Avengers switch foes, so the villains will be unfamiliar with their fighting styles and thus be at a disadvantage. As his teammates charge into battle, Cap leads the Teen Brigade to track down Baron Zemo, taking a canister of tear gas disguised as the super-solvent, which Cap knows Zemo will be desperate to get his hands on. As Cap confronts his old adversary once again, he is filled with a ferocious rage. However, Zemo attacks him with surprising confidence, having trained himself in the martial arts over the years since their last encounter. The fight ends inconclusively when Zemo’s treacherous pilot tries to shoot Cap in the back, managing only to graze his skull. The pilot is apprehended by Giant Man while Cap recovers, but Zemo flees in his airship. The Avengers watch with satisfaction as Baron Zemo is forced to make an emergency landing after opening the tear gas canister. Unfortunately, the war criminal manages to escape from the police and get away. Cap vows to bring Baron Zemo to justice.

In the days that follow, Captain America is plagued by increasingly vivid nightmares which force him to relive Bucky’s death. Finally he has a breakthrough and remembers that it was Baron Zemo they were trying to capture that night -- it was Baron Zemo who caused Bucky’s death. Cap’s determination to track Zemo down and make him pay for his crimes begins to border on obsession. Nevertheless, Cap agrees to attend the Avengers’ first annual Christmas charity benefit, an event which garners the team some good press. Cap is embarrassed when his teammates toast him as a “living legend,” and he responds by claiming to be merely a soldier trying to fight the good fight. At the team meeting afterwards, Iron Man steps down as chairman, and Captain America joins the others in electing Giant Man to assume those duties. Though Rick is not allowed to vote, Cap encourages him to attend team meetings and offer his unique point-of-view. The day after Christmas, Cap is surprised to receive a package from the U.S. Army, containing an old metal strongbox and a scrapbook that Cap had kept early in the war. He immediately recognizes the strongbox as having belonged to his arch-nemesis, the Red Skull, but he is unable to recall the significance of the tattered and faded documents within. Perhaps, he thinks, the answer will come to him in his sleep.



Notes:

January 1945 – Captain America’s career during the later period of World War II was never shown in any great detail, but was limited to a few occasional flashbacks. However, I noticed that Bucky was conspicuously absent from several of these flashbacks. Also, in Captain America #109, Cap tells Nick Fury that one of his last missions with Bucky occurred just before the Allied invasion of Europe on D-Day in June 1944. When compiling my timeline for the Original Marvel Universe, I realized Bucky probably turned 18 in 1944, and it seemed logical that he would officially join the service at that time and give up being Cap’s kid sidekick. This would also provide a simple explanation for why Jack Kirby drew him wearing an Army uniform rather than his costume in the flashback in Avengers #4 that showed his heroic death. Cap and Bucky’s adventure at Greymoor Castle was chronicled in Tales of Suspense #69-71, a story that clearly occurs after D-Day. Since Cap remembered the events in such vivid detail despite his post-cryogenic amnesia, it seemed likely this was his final adventure with Bucky, and hence carried special emotional weight. The girl Cap fell in love with during the liberation of Paris (in August 1944) was Peggy Carter, and their tragic love story was told in Tales of Suspense #77, although her identity was not revealed until several years later.

February 1945 – Steve Rogers’ final adventure with the Invaders was never shown in any canonical story, but the timing suggests the Yalta Conference would make the perfect backdrop for this Untold Tale of the Original Marvel Universe. Likewise, Cap’s subsequent team-up with the Destroyer is suggested by the need to get Cap to Berlin for his final wartime confrontation with the Red Skull. As set up in Invaders #34, the Destroyer was active inside Germany during this time, and it adds a cool dimension to the story. We witness Cap’s showdown with the Red Skull in Tales of Suspense #72, and get it from the Red Skull’s point of view in Tales of Suspense #79. Cap’s participation in the liberation of Diebenwald Concentration Camp was revealed in Captain America #237.

March 1945 – Captain America and Bucky’s fateful encounter with Baron Zemo is first shown in Avengers #4, though Zemo’s identity as the man responsible is not revealed until two issues later. Roy Thomas and John Buscema unnecessarily complicate the story in their retelling of these events in Avengers #56, adding giant androids and time-travelers to the mix. Their explanation for the Army uniforms, that Zemo dressed the heroes that way after knocking them unconscious, begs the question of why Zemo wouldn’t have kept Cap’s indestructible shield for himself. Clearly it would have been a most sought-after prize among Hitler’s agents. Fortunately, this entire revision can be dismissed as an alternate reality that the time-traveling Avengers were diverted to by Immortus, whose involvement can be traced to the very next story in the sequence, presented in Avengers Annual #2. Immortus pulls exactly the same stunt when he shows the Vision an alternate-reality version of his android origins in Avengers #133-135 in order to convince him he had once been the heroic Human Torch. You just can’t trust anything Immortus tells you. Similarly, Don Glut’s insertion of an entire adventure between Cap’s plunge into the sea and his lapsing into suspended animation, as seen in Captain America #220, does more to weaken the story than it enhances it. However, this addition can also be discounted, as the flashback is projected into Cap’s mind by Lyle Dekker’s machines. It is more likely that Dekker had encountered the second Captain America, William Nasland, but never suspected he wasn’t the original, and the tale got further warped when filtered through Dekker’s addled brain. In any event, Bucky’s death is a powerful story, and an important element in Captain America’s history, and it is only diminished when writers concoct elaborate scenarios to explain its minor details. Simple is better. Of course, the profundity of the story was completely destroyed in 2005 with the retcon that Bucky had survived and gone on to become a Soviet assassin called the Winter Soldier. But that is of no consequence to us here, as modern-day comics do not take place in the Original Marvel Universe. In the OMU, Bucky remained thoroughly, completely, and totally dead.

1945-1962 – Stan Lee abandoned much of previous continuity when he reintroduced Captain America, and later writers sought ways to salvage as much of the Golden Age past as they could. And so, as mentioned above, Roy Thomas revealed that shortly after Captain America and Bucky disappeared, replacements were recruited to prevent the blow to Allied morale that their deaths would have meant. William Nasland, seen previously as the Spirit of ’76 in Invaders #14-15, became the new Captain America, and Fred Davis, introduced in Marvel Premiere #30, became the new Bucky. When Nasland was killed in battle, the mantle of Captain America was taken up by Jeff Mace, formerly the hero called the Patriot, as revealed in What If #4. Mace was said to have retired around 1950, and there was no Captain America until a few years later. When Steve Englehart launched his celebrated run on Captain America with issue #153, his first story-arc brought the Atlas-era Captain America series into a semblance of continuity by revealing that an anonymous man had discovered Steve Rogers’ secret, along with a copy of the long-lost super-soldier serum, and assumed both his civilian and costumed identities, alongside a third Bucky (later identified as Jack Monroe). However, since these latest versions had not been exposed to the stabilizing “vita-ray” treatment (the missing element in all attempts to recreate Erskine’s success), they were soon driven mad and exposed as impostors by the FBI. Except for an obvious hoax perpetrated by a minor crook called the Acrobat, who posed as Cap in a plot against the second Human Torch (in Strange Tales #114), there were no other Captain Americas until the original returned. However, when Steve Rogers did reappear in the 1960s, many people seemed to know that he had actually disappeared in 1945, before the end of the war. Therefore, I conjecture that Fred Davis, who had been forced to retire as Bucky after suffering a debilitating gunshot wound (inspired by the story in Captain America Comics #66), had probably written a book telling the life story of James Buchanan Barnes and revealing the truth about Nasland and the third Cap (without naming Mace) to set the record straight. The book, probably called something like Bucky: The Life and Death of an American Hero, would have appeared in the late 1950s, and been well-known by the time Steve Rogers was thawed out in the autumn of 1962.

November 1962 – Captain America is revived in Avengers #4. Neither Cap nor the Sub-Mariner, who is suffering his own memory problems, has more than a vague recollection of the other at this point, and neither seems to recall their service in the Invaders (mainly because the Invaders weren’t created until about 12 years later). The Original Human Torch is currently deactivated, Toro and Spitfire have retired to lives of obscurity, the Whizzer is a drunken bum, and both Miss America and the second Union Jack are dead, which is why none of Cap’s former teammates look him up after his return. Cap ruminates on the extent of his memory loss during these early days in Captain America #247. The green-skinned “Medusa” alien was later identified as a member of the D’Bari race, and he probably got back to his home planet just in time for its destruction by Dark Phoenix. Poor sod. Captain America appears next in Marvel’s first big crossover event in Fantastic Four #25-26, with a brief wrap-up at the beginning of Avengers #5.

December 1962 – Cap’s trip to Washington, D.C. is not mentioned in the comics, but it is a logical course of action during this lull in the story, and it explains how he came to have the Red Skull’s strongbox in his possession in Tales of Suspense #72. Although General Phillips was finally used again (so he could be killed off) in recent years, it seems likely that in the Original Marvel Universe, he was already dead when Cap was resurrected. This further alienates Cap from his past, leaving him completely alone -- a stranger in a strange land. The battle with the Lava Men comprises the rest of Avengers #5. Captain America uses Tony Stark’s “improvements” to his shield for about a month before getting rid of them just prior to Tales of Suspense #62. Baron Zemo and the Masters of Evil attack in Avengers #6, where Zemo is revealed as Bucky’s killer. Incidentally, a younger version of Zemo appeared simultaneously in Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #8, released the same day as Avengers #6. The first of the Avengers’ annual Christmas charity benefits was not shown in any canonical story, though Cap’s photo album / scrapbook first appears very soon after, in Tales of Suspense #59, which kicked off his new series of solo adventures.



OMU Note: The final canonical appearance of Captain America is in Avengers #339.


Next Issue: The End!