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Avengers Forever #9

Aug 1999
Kurt Busiek, Carlos Pacheco

Avengers Forever #9 cover

Story Name:

Break: Reflections of the Conqueror


Synopsis

Avengers Forever #9 synopsis by Rob Johnson
Rating: 3 stars

Last issue six Avengers learned the history of Immortus from a Space Phantom, before being betrayed to Immortus by their 7th member Yellowjacket. Meanwhile Rick Jones had taken off on his own. This issue is mostly taken up with Kang reviewing his own history, until Rick and the Kree Supreme Intelligence return. 

Last we saw of Kang in #3 he was in Chronopolis as Immortus collapsed it to make the Forever Crystal. We now find he escaped that fate and retreated to another stronghold in Purgatory.

Kang was born into a highly-civilised 30th Century on an alternate Earth. This Earth had been rebuilt after a nuclear war by Reed Richards's father Nathaniel. Kang's genealogy is muddled, but he may be descended from Nathaniel Richards, or possibly from Dr Doom, or both. Seeking adventure he found his ancestor's time machine, rebuilt it as a Sphinx and went back to Ancient Egypt to rule as Rama Tut.

In Fantastic Four #19 the Fantastic Four used Dr Doom's time machine to visit Rama Tut, and forced him to flee in the chronosphere heart of the Sphinx. En route to the future Rama Tut rescued Dr Doom from space in FF Annual #2. Rama Tut believed Doom to be his ancestor, but they also speculated confusingly that they might be the same person separated by time travel.

After leaving Dr Doom, Rama Tut was thrown back in time a bit to the end of Avengers Annual #2. There he appeared to the Avengers as Scarlet Centurion, causing a divergent timeline. He pretended to be an ally of Avengers but led them astray. He kept the original Avengers lineup, stopping Hulk from leaving and preventing the revival of Captain America. He persuaded them that the future of humanity depended on them imprisoning all other superheroes and supervillains. The current Avengers accidentally arrived in this divergent timeline in Avengers Annual #2 after returning from WWII in Avengers #56. They realised that Centurion had created a dictatorship, and used Dr Doom's time machine to cast him out of the alternate timeline.

Resuming his journey to the future Rama Tut overshot his own 30th Century and ended up in the war-torn 40th Century. He speculates that Immortus may have caused the overshoot. Here he took the name and armour of Kang and began his career of conquest. He conquered Earth, and then alien races such as the Badoon.

Tired of ruling a devastated Earth, Kang returned to conquer the 20th Century in Avengers #8, and attacked Avengers with a Spider-Man robot in Avengers #11. He continued to monitor Avengers, e.g. at their line-up change in Avengers #16.

Kang continued to expand his empire in the 40th century, conquering other space empires such as the Matriarch's Universal Church of Truth, and other-dimensional empires such as the Courts of Kosmos, whose size-changing technology he used to create his Growing Men Stimuloids.

Kang's empire was too large to personally control in detail. He had many subservient rulers under him. One such was King Carelius, whose daughter Ravonna Kang loved. But Ravonna didn't love him, and Carelius wouldn't marry her off to him. In Avengers #23-24 Kang brought the Avengers to the 40th Century to demonstrate his might to Ravonna. He demanded Ravonna in marriage. But his right-hand man Baltag demanded Carelius and Ravonna be executed as rebels. Baltag thought Kang had grown weak, and led a rebellion. Kang and Avengers successfully defended Carelius's castle, but Baltag tried to shoot Kang. Ravonna realised she did love him, and took the blast instead. Kang returned Avengers to 20th century, and put Ravonna in suspended animation pending a cure.

Kang threw himself back into his conquests, including the 40th Century Shi'ar Imperium. Then he took a fateful trip back to the 20th Century in Thor #140 to retrieve a Growing Man that had been accidentally activated. Thor used his hammer to send Kang to Limbo. Here he found a seemingly-dead Immortus, and used his technology to snatch Ravonna from just before her death, only to discover that this resulted in a divergent timeline where he died instead of her.

This lead him to further discover that his frequent time-travelling had spawned multiple alternate-reality copies of himself. Up to now Kang's tale has taken a leisurely pace. Understandably less space is devoted to the alternate-reality adventures, even including several stories in one panel. But sometimes these quick flashes hide multi-issue epics, or stories of some importance to Kang's future. Those depicted are:-

The builder of Chronopolis, as seen in a flashback in the Terminatrix backup story in Avengers Annual #21. Thus the Kang who was besieged in Chronopolis in #3 was not the one who built it.

A Kang who went back to Camelot in the Human Torch & Thing story in Strange Tales #134 to change history so that Avengers and Fantastic Four won't exist. Watcher sends Torch & Thing to stop him. This Kang doesn't yet know that changing the past won't change the present.


 

Review / Commentaries


Avengers Forever #9 Review by (June 29, 2010)
The Time Variance Authority are a bureaucratic organisation who were mentioned by their agents Justice Peace in Thor #372 and Death's Head in Fantastic Four #338 during the Dreaming Celestial Sage. They made their proper debut in Fantastic Four Annual #24. The democratic Congress of Realities also appeared in Quasar #50 in the same month as Terminatrix Objective #1, and Mark Gruenwald wrote both. Many of the Congress were killed in Quasar, which is why Cross-Time Kangs want to invade them in Terminatrix Objective. Quasar #50 also involved Man-Thing and the Nexus of Realities. This raises the possibility that it was the same Congress of Realities in the 2-part story in Adventure Into Fear #19 and Man-Thing #1. However that Congress was portrayed as evil. Prof Gamble and the Incinerators, also known as Dredlox, were previously seen in Power Man & Iron Fist #79. They are loosely based on Dr Who and the Daleks. Like his 2 lives as Rama Tut, Kang seems to have taken the guise of Victor Timely at least twice. He founded Timely after Avengers #8, then returned with Terminatrix after Terminatrix Objective. (They were probably also different alternate reality Kangs.) Giant-Size Avengers #2 claimed that the older Rama Tut version of Kang still had not revived Ravonna. Technically (but only technically) one could say this was true, as it was Grandmaster who revived Terminatrix, and Kang rescued his Ravonna from before she died and then lost her to Immortus.

The Terminatrix section of the history revealed that the Cross-Time Kangs weren't real Kangs, but beings who had each stolen a Kang's identity. The Chronopolis Kang controlled them. It also said that Kang founded Timely immediately after Avengers #8. Prof Horton worked for Victor Timely, before he left to create the original Human Torch, and indirectly the Vision. It also cast doubt on Kang's relation to Nathaniel Richards, as established in What If #39. Meanwhile Immortus and his Ravonna watched Terminatrix from Limbo. The captive Ravonnas in Terminatrix Objective #2-3 are Terminatrix, a Ravonna in her original appearance, a Nebula, a Kang, a version who seduced Dr Druid, and for some reason a female version of Grandmaster. Avengers Forever doesn't mention Marcus Immortus. A Marcus made an appearance earlier than Terminatrix Objective. In Avengers #200 we learned that he was the son of Immortus and an unnamed Earthwoman who wasn't a Ravonna. He was left alone (already grown up) in Limbo when Immortus 'died' in Avengers #143. He used Ms Marvel to get reborn as a mortal human. When that didn't work out he went back to Limbo, but aged rapidly and died as reported in Avengers Annual #10. At that time (at least in published sequence) Immortus hadn't met up with 'his' Ravonna (who Kang saved from before her death). But the story had a flaw in that Immortus didn't really die in Avengers #143. In Terminatrix Objective we met Marcus Immortus son of Kang and Revelation (Ravonna) from a future alternate to the one Terminatrix chose. But Immortus and his Ravonna had a son Marcus who looked identical. Well after Avengers Forever Kurt Busiek introduced another Marcus, son of Kang and another unnamed woman. He served his father as Scarlet Centurion during the conquest of Earth in Avengers v3 #41-54. He strongly resembled the Marcus in #200. At the end he was revealed as 23rd in a line of clones.

T Ssith, one of the Serpent Men who opposed King Kull, starting in Kull the Conqueror v1 #2. Tyndar, a semi-invulnerable Trojan warrior. Wildrun, the first bearer of the mantle of Red Wolf. (2 of his successors debuted in Marvel Spotlight v1 #1 and Avengers #80, with possibly a 3rd in Red Wolf #7.) The Citizen Kang Annuals had backup strips recounting Kang's history. Kang himself narrated the first 3, reaching the end of Avengers #269. Terminatrix did the last section. This version of his history described how he escaped death in Hulk #135 and Avengers #143 by leaving the bodies, but did't say where his mind went. It also suggested he did the same thing after Dr Doom killed him in Secret Wars I (although this would be complicated by the fact that Doom killed him in #4 but temporarily resurrected him in #11). This history differed markedly from those in Avengers #269 and Avengers Forever. Although it recognised alternate Kangs, it depicted most recorded episodes as happening to a single Kang, in the order they were published (only missing out the Marvel Novels and the Secret Wars II cameo [the Savage Hulk cameo which wasn't published yet]). As such it couldn't have Kang discovering 'dead' Immortus in Limbo after Thor #140. This telling postponed that event until just before the Council of Kangs story in Avengers #267-269, which is the first time Kang acknowledges his alternates.

Kronans are aliens from another star who first appeared as 'Stone Men from Saturn' in Journey Into Mystery (Thor) #83. Prester John was first seen in Fantastic Four #54, where he was found preserved in a Chair of Survival since the 12th Century. Thor Annual #17 has him accidentally sent back from the 12th to the 9th Century after Kang tries to take his weapon the Evil Eye. After fighting Thor another accident sends him back to the 12th Century. Gilgamesh and Sersi are both Eternals and sometime Avengers. Gilgamesh was first seen as the Forgotten One in Eternals v1 #13, Sersi in #3. Sersi was a member of Avengers during Citizen Kang crossover. The Nebula who Ravonna impersonated continued to make her own appearances, e.g. in Avengers #311 and others during this period and lately in the Annihilation crossover. Fantastic Four Annual #25 is the debut of the Anachronauts, as a group and as individuals. They are:- Apocryphus, a future son of Sersi. Deathunt 9000, a 21st Century cybernetic warrior. Raa, a caveman with a Bloodstone fragment, who might be an alternate version of Ulysses Bloodstone (first seen in Marvel Presnts #1). Sir Raston, who became Black Knight after his uncle Sir Percy of Scandia, who debuted in Black Knight #1 in 1955. (They are ancestors of the Black Knights of modern Marvel, both the deceased villain who first appeared in Tales to Astonish #52 and the heroic current Black Knight who popped up in Avengers #47 and who was an Avenger in the Citizen Kang story.)

And if Marvel Novels count, then #10 The Man Who Stole Tomorrow had a somewhat-insane Kang versus Avengers. This Kang got split apart and dispersed to multiple times. A 40th Century future where a Kang never returned from one of his time-trips was shown in Hulk #286. A footnote relates this to the Kang who 'died' in Avengers #143, which was just the latest published appearance of Kang. The trio of novels X-Men & Spider-Man: Time's Arrow had a Kang trying to destroy all timelines except one he can rule, and also trying to find a Ravonna to rule with him. Immortus was pretending to be dead here, and helping Kang under the name Lireeb, which marks it as happening during the Council of Kangs era. This Kang knew about the Council, so presumably he was one of the other 2 Kangs on the Council (because the main Kang already had a Ravonna). In Avengers #269 Kang explained his history so far, essentially the same as this issue has. He wasn't explicit about which adventures belonged to alternates, but noticeably he failed to mention all the stories that are attributed to alternates in this issue and my Notes. Immortus claimed to have been behind many of the seemingly-random occurrences in Kang's life, e.g. making him overshoot the 30th Century and land in the 40th. The absorption of all the Kangs' memories from the psycho-globe is why the future Rama Tut could remember the Kang in the Celestial Madonna saga meeting him, even though that was an alternate Kang. Dr Druid first appeared as Dr Droom in Amazing Adventures #1, predating Fantastic Four. Most of his Dr Droom adventures were later reprinted under his new name Dr Druid. But the debut of that name was Incredible Hulk #209. Necrodamus first appeared in Defenders #1 The Ultimate Nullifier was first seen in Fantastic Four #50.

The Badoon are enemies of the Guardians of the Galaxy and many other heroes, first seen in Silver Surfer #2. The Universal Church of Truth was fought by Warlock, debuting in Strange Tales #178. Kang's conquest of the Courts of Kosmos was related in flashback in Thunderbolts #13, but the first Kosmosian was seen in the Wasp's origin story with Ant-Man in Tales To Astonish #44. Avengers #23-24 has a slightly different version of events. Kang had held off conquering Ravonna's kingdom because of his love for her. When she refuses to marry him he takes the kingdom, and then demands she marry him. Baltag's rebellion then follows as described. Ravonna's suspended animation is revealed in Avengers #69. The Shi'ar are long-time friends and foes of the X-Men, since Eric the Red in Uncanny X-Men #97. The saving of Ravonna and Kang's discovery of his multiple selves was shown in Avengers #269. The Watcher was first seen in Fantastic Four #13. He observes alternate realities as well as the main one, so he of all people should know that sending Torch & Thing to the past to safeguard the future was futile. The Grandmaster is an Elder of the Universe who has chosen game-playing as the obsession which sustains his immortal existence. Avengers #69 was his first appearance. Mantis debuted in Avengers #112. Agatha Harkness is a witch who was often nanny to Franklin Richards and mentor to Scarlet Witch. We first met her Fantastic Four #94. There were other appearances of Kang that can be accommodated in the era of alternate Kangs:- There were Kang cameos in Fantastic Four Annual #3, the Savage Hulk one-shot (although this wasn't published until after Avengers #269) and Secret Wars II #7, along with loads of other villains. Meanwhile in Secret Wars I #4 a Kang was killed by Dr Doom. In Marvel Team-Up #9-11 Spider-Man, Iron Man, Human Torch and Inhumans got involved in a war between a Kang and another time-traveller Zarrko (first seen in Journey Into Mystery (Thor) #86).

The meeting of Rama Tut and Fantastic Four in FF#19 has been revisited several times in Doctor Strange #53, West Coast Avengers #22 and Rise of Apocalypse #3-4. The earlier career of Rama Tut was portrayed in Rise of Apocalypse #1-2 and West Coast Avengers #20-21, and if you accept Marvel UK comics as canonical then he was in Killpower: The Early Years #1-2. Although the main Scarlet Centurion returned to the main timeline after Avengers Annual #2 and continued into the future as Kang, a divergent Scarlet Centurion was created who wound up in the alternate reality of the original Squadron Supreme, where he menaced them from their future in a similar way to Kang's continued attacks on Avengers. He appeared in Squadron Supreme #2, and earlier battles with him were described in Squadron Supreme #9. He was last seen in the Squadron Supreme Graphic Novel. On the way to the future Rama Tut also turned up in Cable #57 with a timestorm-damaged timeship. Rama Tut's conversion to Kang and his conquest of the 40th Century was told in Avengers #8 and 269. Kang shouldn't have to speculate that Immortus made him overshoot to the 40th Century because Immortus told him so in Avengers #269.

Kang's history-to-date was previously summarised in Avengers #269, and in backup strips in the Citizen Kang crossover Annuals. The basic story of Kang's early life was told in Fantastic Four #19. Kang claimed to be descended from Dr Doom in Fantastic Four Annual #2 and Avengers #11. Fantastic Four visited Nathaniel Richards's adopted Earth in Fantastic Four #272-273, at the end of which it was hinted that he was an ancestor of Kang. Avengers #269 repeated the hint, and What If #39 spelled it out unambiguously, even saying Kang was named Nathaniel Richards after his ancestor. Kang's time machine could have been built by either ancestor. Kang's early life as Nathaniel Richards played a big role in What If #39, which will be described in more detail next issue. Presumably Ancient Egypt was before Kang's Earth diverged from ours, which in Avengers #269 is stated as centuries ago.

Terminatrix Objective described Kang and the Time Variance Authority as controlling different groups of alternate timeline at this time. But both have appeared personally interested in the main Marvel timeline. TVA are usually portrayed as something bigger than just the controllers of a particular volume of time/space/alternity. On the other hand, maybe the main timeline does belong to them. Kang was always talking about conquering the 20th (now the 21st) Century, despite his empire stretching across it. He came from an alternate timeline. Maybe he's been trying to extend his empire sideways into part of the TVA's 20th Century? The following is a brief summary of Kang's life:- Nathaniel Richards in alternate 30th Century became Rama Tut I ~3000BC, who became Scarlet Centurion in alternate 20th Century, and then Kang in 40th Century. Kang made several attempts on 20th Century. He spawned various alternate copies (including Squadron Supreme's Scarlet Centurion). He gathered alternate Kangs into Council of Kangs, and killed them. He then split into the Cross-Time Kangs' Kang who died, and the Chronopolis Kang, who twice 'died' with Terminatrix, then became Rama Tut II, and on to Avengers Forever. Ravonna's incarnations are much simpler:- The original split into Immortus's Ravonna and Nebula/Terminatrix, who split off the alternate future Revelation before dying behind the scenes in Avengers Forever. Along the way she also span off other alternates like the ones Immortus gathered in Terminatrix Objective.

The Kang in Terminatrix Objective must have got hold of Tempus after Tempus's appearance in Avengers Forever (but not after Kang's appearance there - timeless Limbo is even more confusing than time travel), and then used him as a permanent barrier to keep out Alioth. In Terminatrix Objective Kang was supposed to be the only one who had been keeping Alioth at bay, so Terminatrix had to revive him. But then what he did was create the barrier out of Tempus. I can think of a timeless-Limbo-based reason for this. The Tempus-barrier once created would exist in all times. As long as Kang was alive the barrier could be created in the future, and so existed. While Kang was 'dead' the barrier wouldn't be created and so failed to exist. (On this basis Kang didn't have to create the barrier as soon as he was revived. Except maybe to drive Alioth out of Kang's empire.) I believe Kang's empire stretched from Rama Tut ~3000BC to his base ~4000AD across a group of alternate timelines. This is the same as the 7000 years the Time-Keepers gave Immortus to oversee. Alioth's empire ran from ~3000BC back to the dawn of life. This includes the eras of Eternals, Inhumans, Atlantis, Kull and Conan. So I don't think Alioth was particularly bad for sentient beings.

The claim that all the non-human members of the Cross-Time Kangs were aliens who had killed real Kangs is probably not what was originally intended. I would guess they were meant to be Kangs who sprang from non-human alternate realities. As a final twist to my Notes on Marcus Immortus, when I looked back at Avengers #200 Marcus's mother reminded me of Terminatrix in early Timely at the end of Terminatrix Objective. Could it be that Kang and Terminatrix had a son Marcus, as an alternate to Revelation's son. Kang cloned this son many times after Terminatrix's death in Avengers Forever, including the one in Avengers v3 #41-54. Immortus continued the practice, including the Marcus in Avengers #200. Then possibly the son at his death is another clone, rather than the son of Immortus and Ravonna. Each clone was given a fictitious background. I could even explain why Marcus in Avengers #200 thought Immortus was dead, by assuming that this Marcus was the one who saw Immortus and Ravonna die, and the relation to the 'death' in Avengers #143 was just an 'editorial interpretation'. Tempus is a being of Limbo, so he can't have alternate copies. This is how I reconstruct his history. The aged Immortus created him in Terminatrix Objective and imbued him with the spirits of himself and Ravonna. Tempus then took up his place as guardian of Limbo and companion/servant of Immortus, starting with Giant-Size Fantastic Four #2, up to and including his appearances in Avengers Forever.

This doesn't fit the idea of omniscient Immortus playing his part in the evolution of Kang into himself, a part that he himself remembers as having happened. Busiek's retelling allows both Kangs to have all the memories, and allows Immortus not to be wrong. The 3 Kangs follow the Fantastic Four's ship through the barrier around the Dreaming Celestial, rather than an Avengers quinjet. I'm not sure whether the ship that succeeded in piercing the barrier was always the Fantastic Four's ship, even in Avengers #297. Was it mistaken for an Avengers ship because of the presence of Iron Man and Thor, with added confusion due to Mr Fantastic and Invisible Woman being in the Avengers at the time? Some issues such as Avengers Annual #21 refer to the Council of Kangs when they should mean the Council of Cross-Time Kangs. It doesn't make sense that all the Cross-Time Kangs weren't real Kangs, because they induct 'our' real Kang. They also mention gathering survivors of other Councils of Kangs. My theory about this is that the duplicates 'our' Kang knew about were all alternate reality versions of himself, spun off from the same version of Nathaniel Richards. But there would be other Nathaniel Richards, each of whom could generate his own set of Kangs. Each such set might combine into a separate Council of Kangs, who might cull themselves as 'ours' did.

The adventure with the Legion of the Unliving isn't mentioned directly in #7 or #8 or in the Notes on these issues. I suspect this is because it would raise an awkward question. In #8 it says that the historical foes Immortus conjured up in Avengers #10 were actually disguised Space Phantoms. If so, then does this mean that Human Torch and the others of the Legion were also Space Phantoms? On the other hand surely the hordes of warriors Immortus uses in Avengers Forever aren't just Space Phantoms? It would be a waste of disguise. Also, if this story was described here it would probably be claimed that Immortus only pretended to be tricked by Kang in Avengers #131, and definitely only pretended not to know he was a later version of them both. The alternate bodies Kang transfers his consciousness to are probably clones. Or are they alternate-reality Kangs? It doesn't say. In the original telling in Avengers #269 Immortus kept the Kang-who-would-be-him safely hidden, while the other Kang went mad from absorbing the memories of all the dead Kangs. Unfortunately it was this hidden Kang who died in the Cross-Time Kangs story. Thus by default it was the mad Kang who went on to Fantastic Four #323, and hence to become Immortus. Also, if the hidden Kang had survived, he wouldn't have had the memories to do what Rama Tut II did in the Celestial Madonna saga.

Captain America, Hulk and Iron Man all only appear here in flashbacks. This issue does for Kang what last issue did for Immortus. Unlike Immortus, Kang has multiple alternate-reality versions. It is possible to allocate some of Kang's adventures to different versions of him because often he doesn't specifically refer to other adventures. For instance one can discount the editorial footnote in Avengers #129 translating Kang's reference to "previous encounters" as including Avengers #69-71. Since time travel causes divergent realities maybe it was Rama Tut's appearance in Ancient Egypt which diverged the main timeline from Kang's own original timeline. In Avengers Annual #2 it doesn't specifically say that Captain America wasn't revived in the alternate timeline. But I would guess that when Avengers are shown capturing Sub-Mariner it was before he found Cap's frozen body in Avengers #4.


> Avengers Forever comic book info and issue index

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Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Carlos Pacheco
Jesus Merino
Steve Oliff
Carlos Pacheco (Cover Penciler)
Jesus Merino (Cover Inker)
Steve Oliff (Cover Colorist)
Tony Kelly (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Plot: .

Characters

Listed in alphabetical order. All stories.

Captain America
Captain America

(Steven Rogers)
Hulk
Hulk

(Robert Bruce Banner)
Kang
Kang

(Nathaniel Richards)
Mr. Fantastic
Mr. Fantastic

(Reed Richards)
Spider-Man
Spider-Man

(Peter Parker)
Thing
Thing

(Ben Grimm)
Watcher
Watcher

(Uatu)
Yellowjacket
Yellowjacket

(Hank Pym)


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