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Last Annihilation: Wiccan and Hulkling #1

Sep 2021

Anthony Oliveira, Jan Bazaldua

::: click cover to ENLARGE it :::

Story Name:

Entangled

Synopsis

Last Annihilation: Wiccan and Hulkling #1 synopsis by Rob Johnson

Rating:

The Last Annihilation crossover continues from CABLE: RELOADED.

Dormammu has invaded the Galaxy from his Dark Dimension and has sent his Mindless Ones to attack 5 particular planets. 2 of them are Skrullos of the Skrulls and Hala of the Kree. Hulkling is Emperor Dorrek-Vell of the new Kree/Skrull Alliance and so must defend both. He himself was on Hala and he sent his husband and Court Wizard Wiccan to Skrullos. The battle on Hala didn't go well and Teddy Kaplan-Altman was severely injured and his Star-Sword was broken. Abigail Brand and a SWORD team came to the rescue and ported him back to Earth for healing (all in SWORD #7).

This issue alternates between continuing the Last Annihilation story and flashbacks to the duo's shared history.

The 1st flashback is to a High School science class where the teacher asks who can summarise what she said about quantum entanglement. She asks Teddy Altman who who suggests it's when you travel back in time to correct what went wrong. She says that's the old TV program Quantum Leap. Teddy says his mom watches reruns because she has a crush on Scott Bakula (or maybe it's him?). She then asks Billy Kaplan who's sitting by himself to avoid homophobic bullies led by John Kesler. He gives the right answer that 2 particles so-linked will remain connected however far apart they are. He and Teddy share a glance.

Now Wiccan and the Kree/Skrull hybrid mage Mur-G'nn are on Skrullos facing Mindless Ones popping in via magic portals. Then Abigail Brand arrives with a SWORD contingent (including Armor, Frenzy, Ruckus, Thumbelina, Xorn and Skrull Ambassador Paibok) but also with the pieces of the Star-Sword Ekz'el-Zorr. Billy can tell that Teddy isn't dead and starts to try to magically mend the sword. Frenzy reports that the enemy is concentrating on ancient towns and minor temples, which Wiccan interprets as an attack on places of symbolic importance. Paibok adds that the most scared place is Ny'ni-Ahn, the 1st spring, so they go there.

Hulking must have been healed because he's back on Throneworld II (Hala) with Hercules, Marvel Boy and Phyla-Vell of the Guardians Of The Galaxy plus Avalanche of SWORD. Ex-villain Avalanche tries to save the Emperor from a Mindless One attack but misjudges and brings down the bridge they are standing on. He isn't affected but the other 4 go tumbling into a chasm.

In another flashback Teddy finds Billy in a school storeroom at lunchtime reading comics. He offers to share his lunch (made by his mom) with him. Teddy says he used to go to Sci-Fi Cons with her before he got too busy with sports. They agree to go buying comics together and Billy will come support his games.

On Skrullos Wiccan is attempting his magic sword mending in the pool at Ny'ni-Ahn. Mur-G'nn tells him that it's sacred to the goddess Sl'gur't, but life has taught her not to believe in such things. Brand comes to see how Billy's getting on but the magic isn't working - he feels that something terrible has happened. (It's probably Dormammu getting an even bigger foot-(or whole body-)hold in reality in GOTG#17. But Abigail worries that it's something else - probably the fact she hasn't told him about that his 'mother' Scarlet Witch has been murdered on Krakoa between SWORD #6 and X-Factor #10.)

On Hala the 4 have survived their fall and are trying to find a way to the surface. While Herc and Noh-Varr are flirting, Teddy and Phyla discuss their family relationship - they're both children of the original Captain Marvel, albeit alternate universe versions. Phyla says she had a brother in her universe that went mad and had to be 'put down'. Teddy thinks she means a version of the other son Genis-Vell but she means Dorrek.

The other 2 have restored power to the room they are in which used to be an interface to the Kree Supreme Intelligence. Herc reminds them that the SI destroyed Hala (in Operation Galactic Storm) and Phyla adds that it turned their father's Nega-Bands into a bomb to do it, killing billions of Kree. (They skip over the fact that Hala was destroyed again and the SI with it during the Black Vortex event.) Marvel Boy says he incorporated the SI's remains into the Utopian Plex (in Royals #5). But now the restored power causes something to stir in the place. It's an insane remnant of the Supreme Intelligence that detects the attack from the Dark Dimension and prepares to nuke the planet.

It's flashback time again as Billy is watching Teddy play (American) Football. Teddy's mother Mary-Jo approaches him and expresses her approval of their relationship. She says she has to rush home early to switch the microwave off or something, and asks him to walk Teddy home. And she gives him a scarf with the team colours to keep him warm.

On Skrullos Wiccan is still trying to mend the sword when he's confronted by an image of Dormammu who addresses him as the Demiurge that Billy is fated to grow into. Dormammu says the universe isn't big enough for both of them.

Back in the flashback Kesler and his stooge Greg Norris find Billy waiting for someone and steal the scarf. Then Teddy stops them and they realise incredulously that *he*'s who Billy was waiting for. Greg blusters that he knows Teddy's secret (a different 1).

On Hala Hulkling is despairing. Marvel Boy, also from an alternate reality, suggests Phyla talk to him.

On Skrullos Dormammu manifests as a giant head on a giant body (see GOTG#17 but nowhere near as big as there). Casually mentioning that he's an aspect of the Faltine Flame the demon picks Wiccan up in his hand.

In another flashback Billy is sitting on a bench in front of the ruined Avengers Mansion where Teddy finds him. This is just after Billy used his power to give Kesler an electric shock. So Teddy shows him *his* power and turns into a green-skinned but less muscled Hulk. They accept each other's differences and share a kiss.

On Skrullos Dormammu brings Wiccan close to his large face, but close enough that Billy can reach out and touch his flames. Dr Strange once told him that while Dormammu is evil the Flames Of The Faltine of which he is composed are pure magic, which he now channels to finally mend the Star-Sword. Dormammu drops him but gloats that the Sword's wielder isn't here.

On Hala Hulkling looks on his failure to save the people on this planet as making him as bad as Phyla's alternate Dorrek. Phyla tells him there's a big difference - Teddy has people who love him and whom he loves, while Dorrek had nobody. She opines that their dad would have been proud of him. And this ego-boost gives him an idea.

Now another flashback, to the morning of Billy and Teddy's wedding day on the Kree/Skrull Alliance flagship. Teddy reminds Billy how his father Captain Marvel used to use his Nega-Bands to swap places with Rick Jones. Well, the Kree found the substance of the Bands in the remains of the Supreme Intelligence's Nega-Bomb and Teddy got them reforged in Asgard as a pair of rings. They each put on a ring.

Now on Hala and Skrullos Hulkling and Wiccan face the SI-remnant's nuclear threat and Dormammu. But they use their rings to swap places. Wiccan channels the SI's atomic explosion out into space to destroy incoming Mindless Ones. And Hulkling grabs his magic-disrupting Sword and plunges it into Dormammu making him go away.

Final flashback continuing from the 1 at Avengers Mansion. Iron Lad drops in via jet boots. It turns out he contacted each of them last night and now wants to know if they've decided to join the Young Avengers. History says they did.

Last Annihilation will continue in LAST ANNIHILATION: WAKANDA.

Review / Commentaries

Last Annihilation: Wiccan and Hulkling #1 Review by Rob Johnson (September 4, 2021)

Previously it seemed that Billy Kaplan and Teddy Altman didn't meet until Young Avengers. Their individual backstories in the Young Avengers Special 1-shot included Billy's High School nemesis John Kesler and Teddy's manipulative High School friend Greg Norris. But the 2 pairs were shown separately and it was assumed that they were at different High Schools, neither of which were named. Now this retcon mixes both stories together and has the heroes getting together long before Young Avengers. (Of course this could also just be part of the rewritten history of the post Secret Wars universe.)

Demiurge is a powerful being that Wiccan is destined to become as we learned in Young Avengers vol 2. In New Avengers vol 4 it turned out that Moridun turned the future Demiurge evil, but Hulkling and Wiccan stopped that happening.

> Last Annihilation: Wiccan and Hulkling comic book info and issue index