Synopsis
Avengers (2018 series) #26 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
It's time for another 1 Million BC Avengers' origin. We've done Ghost Rider and Iron Fist and now it's Starbrand.
4 billion years ago the Celestial Progenitor died on Earth and infected the planet with Horde eggs.
66 million years ago an asteroid struck the Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs. It also caused a White Event which empowered a dying dinosaur with the Starbrand. A voiceover which has been describing these things claims that the Earth itself *drew* the asteroid to it to crack open the Superflow to create the White Event and a being to protect the planet from alien invasions and it's own infection. We see this dino-Starbrand opposing the Kree.
The voiceover also mentions someone who *was* a great man who believed all life was precious.
Now we get to the 1M BC era and a pair of male lovers in an Eden-like paradise hidden in a canyon. They are burly Brrkk and weedy Vnn. It soon becomes obvious that the voiceover is Vnn, and Brrkk is the 1 who's going to be a *was*. We learn that they both felt themselves different from their respective tribes. They somehow knew things that the others didn't. Vnn left his tribe before they could realise how different he was and he headed for this garden he'd seen in a dream. He was nearly dead by the time he got here but Brrkk was already here, called by *his* dreams, and he nursed Vnn back to health. They were alone in paradise and kept each other sane. They are learning to cultivate the garden and find uses for the many plants.
But then some Deviants find the way into the garden through a cave that exits through a waterfall. These are mutated monsters that live underground and are more technologically advanced than the 'cavemen' (which isn't saying much). (We know that the Deviants were created by the Celestials from proto-human stock but designed to be born in varying forms.) Battle ensues, but Brrkk's strength plus some dangerous fruits as projectiles drive the enemy back whence they came.
The duo expect the foe to return so they lay plans and traps. But the Deviants are more advanced than even they suspect and rise up out of the ground in a burrowing machine. The ground collapses beneath the pair and they fall into a large cavern. Brrkk is killed by falling rocks but Vnn survives and finds the Dinobrand corpse. He touches the Starbrand on its chest and becomes the new bearer of the Brand.
Vnn now realises that it was the power of the Starbrand which caused the garden to flourish. And that is what the Deviants were seeking. But the Brand has made Vnn even burlier than Brrkk, and vastly more powerful. He can sense the cosmos but for now can only feel the rage with which he kills all the invaders and accidentally(?) burns down the garden.
Months later Starbrand has met up with other super-powered individuals as the Avengers (1MBC). They are gathered on the sacred mountain of the Panther tribe. We see in the background the 1st Ghost Rider with his flaming mastodon, the female 1st Iron Fist and Agamotto the 1st Sorcerer Supreme. But the 1st Black Panther, young Odin and Lady Phoenix, the 1st human possessed by the Phoenix Force are discussing Starbrand. She can tell by reading his mind that he has foresworn eating plants. Indeed they know he eats very little (the Starbrand sustains him?). He says little too (but Lady P detects tragedy in his thoughts) and seems to live only to fight. Lady P says he comes from "no place that exists in this world, not anymore" (referring to Vnn's garden home having been obliterated).
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Avengers (1MBC) (
1M BC Avengers), Black Panther (
1MBC), Deviants, Ghost Rider (
1MBC), Iron Fist (
Fan Fei), Lady Phoenix (
Firehair).