Cardinal Stryker, so we already know what we’re in for. He meets Mayor Corvo, which I tried to look it up, and didn’t see any characters with that last name. Stryker tells Corvo and his men they have to stay outside, as only weapons allowed in the church is the Power of Faith.
Cardinal Stryker is there to meet Bishop Wagner, who does have a sword.
Bishop Wagner is assisted by Sister Aquilla, of Nova Roma, so we have Magma. Also, apparently something bad happened in Nova Roma, as is always the case.
The Pope has given Cardinal Stryker authority to be an independent factor as he performs his duties.
Cardinal Stryker is here to kill vampires. Wagner asks, “which kind?” which is very interesting. Are there different types of vampires? Stryker responds with a, “yours,” so mutant vampires as opposed to vampire vampires? Flatscan vampires?
Years ago.
We are treated to Vampire Storm biting Jean Grey, in a Phoenix outfit. This page is gorgeous.
Now.
October 6, 2026. Day 3106 of this broadcast. Day 3268 of the first recorded occurrence of infection. Which is nearly nine years.
We get a panel of Magneto in this universe. He has a rock in a jar.
Citizen Tilby, so we have Trish Tilby, always a reporter.
We see a panel of loads of missing people. I don’t believe we are supposed to recognize any of the faces, and there are no names that are legible.
Citizen Tilby makes a reference to someone, be it vampire or empyre. We see two characters discuss what is an empyre, which is pretty fun. Empyres are mutants who were turned into vampires, so mutant vampires, m-pires, empyers. Two great panels that really define the lore.
Mutant vampires don’t call themselves that, that’s just for flatscans, for convenience, as the mutant vampires call themselves by their house names, and clan names.
One of the people cracked the prime codex, and found the decryption key, but that’s how all of these people who have gathered got to this location.
This group comes across four strongholds, or coffins. One of them is Quicksilver, and the other is a lady with red hair, which doesn’t narrow it down much.
One of the coffins is marked – Body Shop #MJ298 V-Class Reaver (Beta), so just like in the 616, Reavers are present, and have turned themselves into vampires, AND have enhanced their bodies with cybernetics. Reavers always have to try to get on the same power of mutants, or mutant vampires, that’s just how Reavers roll.
The House of X. Classic Hickman.
Unus, usually untouchable, is part of the House of X. Quicksilver shows up, fresh from the Reavers attack. Toad is also there, we can tell by his googles.
We also see Havok and Polaris, and Scarlet Witch are part of the House of X.
Polaris mentions a compact that mutants live by. Magneto orders that they have to send someone who isn’t bound by the compact to fight back the Reavers.
Gambit is the one that is sent. Gambit is joined by Psyloce, Glob Herman, and a male Hellion, from the uniform. Probably Empath, who is the worst. It is very cool to see a Glob Herman who is ready for a fight.
Back with Stryker and Wagner, we see a statue of Exodus, attacking with a sword, someone who is chained down. It is daylight, and we’re outside, so Wagner isn’t an empyre. Stryker states that vampires have been around since St. Peter founded the church. Also, is it isn’t a sin to kill vampires, as they are already dead.
Stryker refers to Mayor Corvo as Purifier Corvo, so we know this are bad dudes. Wanger recognizes the empyers were his friends, so he rather not see them get killed. I’m not sure what his solution is, to give up portions of the city?
Styrker mentions how he and Wagner are on missions of mercy, and works in a “God Loves Man Kills,” which is an awesome reference.
We get our first data page, Immortal Mortality. Human and Mutant Vampres can be killed by – Decapitation, Adamantium, and Sunlight – mutants can several up to a few minutes in sunlight whereas human vampires die within seconds. Also, human vampires can be killed with a stake through the heart, but not mutants. Which makes sense to me, as I imagine empyres are stronger than vampires. The data page is produced by Muir Institute Report (0051).
Back with Gambit, we get confirmation that is Empath. Psylocke beheads the Reaver. Mutants have a smell to the iron in their blood, so empyres can tell who they are about to feast on
Empath has the option to devour her, or turn her, but he has to make the decision quick. Also, empyres really want to drink upon mutants, they have an overwhelming scent.
Before Empath can make a decision, the dude gets blasted!
Cyclops is here! He blasted Empath’s legs right off!
Gambit states they will get Empath to a healer, so apparently empyres can’t just heal on their own, or maybe they can, but not one’s legs once they are blasted off.
Cyclops recognizes Gambit. Gambit calls Cyclops, Slim, which is fun. Also, Slim has quite the bounty of his head. Gambit’s tribe doesn’t care about the compact.
Gambit wants the girl, but she tells Slim how she would know what her power is, and I like his response of, “you’d know.” Slim sighing is perfection.
Gambit makes a comment, most likely scarastically, about how great Cyclops is at saving people, so something bad happened there.
Gambit also calls Cyclops the last X-Man. Cyclops, in a very fun moment, refereces the time, 1:27pm, then gives the building they are in a new sunroof, and fries everyone, but Glob Herman.
Empath definitely dies, but Gambit appears to only be frying, so he must have been an older empyre.
With a pretty cool grappling hook, Cyclops rescues the gal. He tells her the empyres have her scene, so she has to leave. She wants to stay, and her name is Hope. Cyclops repeats that she has to go home. There was a part of me that was hoping her red hair was just brunette, and this would be Kitty Pryde.
Bishop Wagner is tending to his flowers, as the sun goes down. I love how he is immediately visited by Storm. I thought it was just Gambit’s speech bubbles, but apparently all empyres get to speak in black word balloons.
Apparently Storm keeps offering Wagner the chance to turn, but he keeps turning her down. NO family, no clan, no house would dare turn Wagner, he is protected by Storm’s shadow. Storm is also not concern for men trying to kill her, which is awesome.
Storm touches Wagner’s hand, and he moves it. Wagner dreams of a cure for empyres. Wagner is concerned for the day empyres lose control, and can no longer hide. Will there be another war? Which is very interesting.
I like how we keep getting different characters quoting, “The Peace Must Hold.” This is a very strong compact they are under.
Wanger asks what happens if the peace isn’t held, as the issue ends.
No Kitty, or Lockheed, or Magik, but we are just getting started
Midnight X-Men was definitely my favorite of the three, with Spider-Man being second, and I’ll probably be okay with not reading more Fantastic Four. And once we find out if the spider stays on Peter’s chest, I’ll probably be done there Or if it stays, how does that work?
I love Magik being part of the new Ultimate World Council, and proposing splitting up America now that it has its own super beings. #UltimateInvasion 4
The last we've seen of Magik in the new Ultimate universeShe doesn't say anything, but it extremely revealing that it is Magik that is the one representing the Eurasian Republic.#UltimateUniverse 1
Turns out, Magik & Omega Red are referenced in #UltimateSpiderMan V3 8, so that's pretty coolMagik banned Kraven from Russianthere's also a fun reference to Arade's Arcade
a fun three part series that I was extremely late to
#Empyre X-Men 1 Magik shows up to a meeting Angel & Monet were about to have, and insults them Angel confronts Xavier, but overhears a conversation about a broken gate from Black Tom They investigate it with Madrox Plants vs Zombies Hordeculture shows up to deal with the plants pic.twitter.com/zWYG7ffvb4
#Empyre X-Men 2 Magik & Hordeculture are so much fun! I can't believe I skipped this mini originally Writing & Art are top notch in this Plant people's ship is going to self-destruct & the plants are overwhelming everything Issue ends with Magik requesting all psychics to Genosha pic.twitter.com/Bhe3x0oOmk
#Empyre X-Men 3 Magik grabs a Cuckoo (I like to think its Mindee) They find the staff Wanda dropped – remember her from the first issue? Magik becomes the Zombie Queen of New Genosha – possibly the best ruler the nation has ever had? Time will tell oh, & Kurt joins the fight! pic.twitter.com/w442Twsdbb
#Empyre X-Men 4 I love the Explody Guy pages so much! He's like Bailey Hoskins from Worst X-Man Ever, but can explode more than once (which is more useful) Doctor Strange cast a spell 30 days ago, and it finally completes Magik loses her Queendom, and regrets nothing. NOTHING! pic.twitter.com/9hyCLasMR0
Here is where I think we are go to be playing with the New Ultimate Universe 2024.
(taken from my Twitter thread) but this will be easier to search.
also, big spoilers for Secret Invasion 4.
okay, so after reading #UltimateInvasion 1-4, and avoiding the Maker and who he fought, this is my understanding of what makes up the new #UlimateUniverse I do have to say, I had a better handle of it once I avoided the Maker/City plot 😀#UltimateSpoilers (1/7)
Loki is in charge of Asgard, Thor is his prisoner, & Bifrost is broken.
Hulk is in charge of the Children of the Light.
Sunfire/Silver Samurai/Viper control the Pacific.
Magik/Colossus/Omega Red, Russia.
Emmanuel Da Costa controls something, it isn’t directly mentioned.
Ra and Khonshu, the Lords of Upper and Lower Kingdoms.
Henri Dugarry, holding both the Sword of Might AND the Amulet of Right, controls the European Union.
Others:
Peter Parker wasn’t bitten by the spider (yet).
Stane is dead.
Tony is Iron Lad.
Howard & Doom grabbed Captain America before the Maker could find him.
Fantastic Four were delayed so they are depowered, & Maker thinks they are dead, besides Reed.
Wasp and Pymn are inactive.
so lots to work with with this new Ultimate Universe we have world leaders, minus who oversees America now that Howard is off the board. Could Peter still be bit by a different spider to launch Spider-Man? Or is it Miles? a cool guy named Ben? We’ll find out in November.
. . .
I also created this :
. . .
This is the post I reference in Episode 67 of the podcast : Realm of X
Artists Esad Ribic, Salvador Larroca, Mike Deodato and Butch Guice
Color Artists Dean White, Frank Martin, Paul Mounts and Laura Martin
Letter VC’s Cory Petit
Cover by Mike Allred and Laura Allred
Cover Dated February 2014
I only own this issue for the variant cover. For whatever reason, Marvel released multiple variants for this issue, which back in the day, they would have waited for the big issue 25 but 24 isn’t bad in today’s market. I still want to own the Anka variant.
I really miss the character square from the good ol’ days.
The theme with several of the variants was Avengers on famous X-Men covers and X-Men in famous Avengers covers. Unfortunately, there was no homage cover to Uncanny X-Men 141. Others are like the one above, where the artist just had fun doing a cover. Its by Allred, so of course Doop is there.
Onto the issue, which good thing there was a recap page!
So in previous issues, there are events called, Incursions, which I only know from the Facebook : Avengers Alliance game. A game I really enjoyed and was addicted to until they went crazy with the PvP Lockboxes. I always said I will quit playing once I wasn’t able to get one of the limited characters and that is what happened with Elektra. Now, they have gone crazy with the feature.
Incursions is when two different Earths come together and one of them is going to be destroyed by the other. From what I can gather, our Earth in the Proper Marvel Universe, is always being one of these planets and the Illuminati has to destroy the other Earth.
I guess at one point, Captain America was a temporary member of the Illuminati and he didn’t like the idea of destroying complete Earths so they, via Doctor Strange, mindwipe him. Just like Zantanna did to Batman in Identity Crisis.
Also, on the recap page, is a conversation Captain America had with Iron Man about how Cap realizes that their enemies are getting to be more dangerous, attack more often and there is just plain too many of them. Iron Man’s solution? To make the Avengers a bigger force to be dealt with.
So the Avengers are –
Captain America, Hulk, Falcon, Thor, Manifold, Black Widow, Captain Marvel, Hawkeye, Iron Man (in the big circle)
Spider-Woman, Hyperion, Smasher, Nightmask, Captain Universe, Cannonball, Sunspot, Starbrand, Shangi Chi (on the bottom)
18 Heroes! That is quite an army!
I don’t recognize : Manifold, Nightmask, this current Captain Universe and Starbrand sounds familiar.
Issue opens in the future, 3030, and Tony’s whatever number-great grandchild, Rhodey Stark (will they really be still naming their children after Tony’s friends at that long of a line?) and Franklin Richards are talking about time travel. Franklin is cool with Rhody going back in time. The captions imply that the Richards Foundation owns the Stark company – which I like.
In the present, Thor is barbequing and makes a joke about not recognizing what hot dogs are, or what meat they are. I sort of like a Thor who can crack a joke – he’s been on Earth and with this time, for a decade – at least, so he can feel comfortable and it shows that they are rubbing off on him.
He admits that he tried to barbeque a lobster but the creature defeated him. Good stuff!
Hulk brings out plates of pies : mead, beer and fimbulvinter.
I like the conversation with Spider-Woman, Black Widow and Captain Marvel.
Captain America and Iron Man talk about membership. Cap has let go of Wolverine, as he is too busy. Spider-Man has also been let go because he has been acting erratic. Due to him being Doctor Octopus.
They explain the cast sheet above. The circle is the main team, the others are reserved.
Then Iron Man 3030 shows up. Tony states it is December 2013, so there is still time to change the Future.
Future Iron Man gives the Avengers an additional monh to prepare for the Rogue Planet, the name of the issue, that is heading to Earth. A rogue planet is a planet that leaves its orbit and now is a giant marble heading towards anything that will stop it.
The Avengers set up a base on Mars and create a device that simply merges the rogue planet to Earth, creating a new source of energy.
Iron Man 3030 takes off her helmet and calls Tony, grandfather. Which, I am not sure if only one child of Tony’s grown up and had a child gets us from 2013 to 3030.
She reveals that in the original timeline, the Avengers destroyed the rogue planet and saved the Earth.
Because they saved the day, the way they did, now the Illuminati (who are also now the New Avengers) can use this new energy source for those pesky Incursions. That is the type of tight writing one can do when you write two titles.
(So I typed this on May 26, 2015 – so I’m seven months behind on my reviews – I have lots of comics! I didn’t realize I had that many but I really don’t want to just do reviews every single day but I recognize that the event is nearly over and I’m just now reviewing the issues.)
I went with this variant, as I’m sure that is Kitty Pryde playfully punching Peter Quill’s arm. I posed the question to the Uncanny X-Cast Facebook group and I’m being told there that those two are Clint Barton and Kate Bishop, the Hawkeyes, which would explain the target on his shirt. Still, I had to buy this issue for one character in specific, so I took a shot with this variant.
Issue opens with Doctor Doom, Doctor Strange and Molecule Man are trying to plead with the Beyonders but Doom has a plan. This is the only pages, I feel, that one needed to read the entire Hickman Avengers opus to fully grasp. Instead, to me, it just reads like Doom is speaking to a mysterious force, which sort of still works.
The Multiverse is dying. Only two universes remain. Today, Earths collide.
Manhattan. Earth-1610. Incursion Event Imminent. Just for anyone who doesn’t know and may be reading this, for the first time – 1610 is the Ultimate Universe and 616 is the Proper Marvel Universe.
The Triskelion. Headquarters of this Earth’s SHIELD. Ultimate Fury wants Reed to explain how much time is left.
The City. Home of the Cabal and the Children of Tomorrow. Currently residing in Manhattan. Ultimate Reed has a weird helmet on his head. Reed gives Fury some hope, there is still time to fight this out. Once Reed ends the call, we see that Reed has been working with the Proper Marvel’s Cabal (the villain version of the Illuminati) – Thanos, Black Swan and Terrax. Reed reveals that the two Earths should have no hope, he lied to Fury so that Fury could feel decent about his last hours.
Once I saw that Ultimate Shadowcat was actually in this title, I knew I was in a for a good time. As I suspect that I will be jumping in and out of this series.
Another crossover and looking over the list, I feel pretty good for knowing all but a few characters.
I still don’t know who the Avengers Manifold & Pod are. I’m not sure about the X-Men’s Nation X Sentinels, I know Hickman’s Avengers 38 dealt with Cyclops and Nation X but that didn’t have Kitty at all. So I didn’t read that issue.
I’m disappointed that proper Kitty isn’t counted amongst the Guardians of the Galaxy.
I’m not sure who Inferno is of the Inhumans, but I’m sure he’s just a new Inhuman that won’t be around in a year.
Ultimate Universe, I just assume that The City and Children of Tomorrow are both related to Reed, I know that is true of the City but it sounds right with the Children of Tomorrow, as well.
The only members of the Cabal, that I don’t know are Proxima Midnight & Corvus Glaive. This is a more cosmic Cabal than Norman Osborn’s Cabal. I do like the note that they are on the Ultimate Earth but they are from the Proper Marvel Universe.
Manhattan. Earth-616. The Incursion Point between both Worlds.Though the narrative, we are informed that the this world’s populace knows that their end is soon. Unless the heroes can help.
Baxter Building. Near it, an explosion occurs. We see that the Fantastic Four have been making a Life Raft, with a bunch of brains being invited. I like Reed growing a beard. Black Panther is also on board. We get the first check in with Black Widow and Spider-Woman, who are bringing in the majority of the scientists. A few didn’t want to come, opting to spend their last hours with their families. That is an impossible choice but I can only imagine I choose to stay on Earth. Unless I can pull an Elijah Wood in Deep Impact and marry Leelee Sobieski and bring her along with me.
Manifold is trying to save the day, by following Black Panther’s instructions but it really isn’t explained how he is going to do it or what his powerset is. He isn’t successful, like, not even a tad.
Ultimate Iron Man is leading the Ultimate army (of SHIELD soldiers) against a main heroes listed on the character list, so the Ultimate side of things have no chance.
Spider-Man is about, saving civilians as is Iron Fist and Luke Cage. Representing the Guardians of the Galaxy are – Star Lord, Drax and Rocket. No mention of where the other members are. Not sure why they didn’t bring their cosmically enhanced members such as Gamora and Shadowcat. Thor (who is really Jane Foster) is fighting along with Storm.
FalCap and Iceman witness Sentinels coming to assist as Cyclops is leading them, as he is a leader of Nation X. Captain Marvel is directly fighting Ultimate Iron Man. Groot is on the scene, as well. Ultimate Iron Man inappropriately hits on Captain Marvel.
She-Hulk fights a weak spot in the Ultimate Hellicarrier and Colossus fastball specials Doc Green, in that direction. The Ultimate Universe is not putting up a decent fight, at all. Ultimate Hawkeye is on board, aiding Ultimate Nick Fury, they know they are not putting up a fight. Fury tells Reed to begin to use his doomsday worldkiller weapon.
Giant explosions star occurring. We get a panel with Ultimate Jean, Wolverine, Cloak & Dagger and Shadowcat! Hence, why I own this issue. I’m hoping, since they are included here, that they are crucial (or at least, involved) in Ultimate End. Which I can only imagine takes place right before this issue. So the final issue has to recreate some of this.
There are these, practically, city wide domes on Earth now. They slowly open, revealing a slew of smaller ships. Seems like Ultimate City is just the Proper version of The World, of the Weapon X facility.
Ultimate Spider-Man was standing on one of the globes. Now the Ultimate Universe has brought its big guns.
Kingpin sent a massive e-mail to his fellow villains. I like their e-mails
I wish they were more imaginative e-mail handles, Fisk’s is pretty great. Punisher arrives at the party, he can’t bring his bullets to the afterlife, and so he kills all that are present. I imagine, the villains, didn’t put up much of a fight.
Natasha calls Susan, they are not going to make it to the Baxter Building. Black Widow is the first hero (and Spider-Woman) that we see die, on panel.
Oh, Manifold’s ability is to get the second life raft (you know, the one that contains named characters), and they take off. So we have Reed, Black Panther and Susan that are safe and the other Fantastic Four family members and fellow Foundation students.
Black Panther puts out the call to get the survivors that they need.
Cyclops grabs his Phoenix Egg, which I’m still not sure about.
Apparently, it just contains the Phoenix Force. Cyclops gets the Phoenix Force aura around him but not the red thong.
We get Drax, Groot and Rocket’s deaths – and Rocket did not want to be on Earth. We see Drax and an uncosmically enhanced Gamora, so that is odd. I imagine that Hickman was told everything before he wrote this issue, so he should have been told about the end of a very well promoted crossover, Black Vortex.
Star Lord disappears, as does Thor, Captain Marvel and Spider-Man. Manifold decides not to take off in the life raft, he wants to stay and keep gathering the needed heroes. The life raft launches from the Baxter Building. Phoenix Force empowered Cyclops is also on the life raft. Instead of a black mask with red cross, Cyclops’ mask is now yellow.
Reed if flying the life raft into the heart of the Incursion, as that is their best chance at survival. A lightning blast strikes the side of their round life raft. The carrier section breaks away, Black Panther tells Reed (and us) that Susan and their children are located there. Which is odd, as two pages earlier – Susan, Franklin and Val, are strapping in right behind Reed. What happened in the ensuing page (which was the full page of the lightning blast)?
Susan places a force field around the carrier section. Reed tells T’Challa to drop the shields, he is going to reach out and grab them. T’Challa tells him he only has seconds to make the attempt. Reed has five seconds and they go by so quickly and . . . this is so heartbreaking, fails. We see the carrier burn up – so Susan, Franklin, Val and Thing are all dead.
On Reed’s section – for sure – are, Star Lord, Thor, Captain Marvel and Black Panther.
How great is that narration? I full agree with it. You find your life partner, and you can’t believe you can love anyone as much and then you go ahead and have a child. You still love your life partner, but – somehow – you love this child more than you love anything you ever loved before. Reed has lost his family and, with that middle panel, has lost an entire planet and worst, a universe. Such a devastating page!
We end the issue with Doom, who use to believe in tomorrow but now he believes in nothing. Issue two will be defining Doom’s role and the new (temporary) Marvel Earth – Battleworld.
Such a great way to end the issue with the tombstone of the two great Marvel lines. The proper one, 1961 – 2015 and the Ultimate one, 2000 – 2015. I can’t believe the Ultimate Universe was 15 years old. Marvel was a very young, 54 year old.
Other famous 53 year olds? Michael J. Fox, Melissa Etheridge, Ralph Macchio, Eddie Murphy, Boy George, Richard Hatch, Scott Baio, KD Lang, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jane Leeves, Meg Ryan, Thomas Hayden Church, Enya, George Clooney and the Great One, Wayne Gretzky. All born in 1961 – how crazy how much they al accomplished for being born the same year and how different each of their careers are, no two have the same path. All with various levels of success.
While working at Hastings, I was trying to sell slash hype this issue and this one guy started flipping through the pages. I asked him to slow down as with each quick page turn, he was quickly killing the Marvel Universe. We had a good laugh after that.
Sadly, this fantastic issue is ruined with a six page preview of Uncanny Inhumans. Which is unwanted and unnecessary.
This handy website has a more detailed commentary of the issue :
Which is a pretty interesting read, as I read none of Hickman’s Avengers and two issues of his Fantastic Four run.
YouTuber ComicsIsland had this pretty awesome hour long episode –
Which is pretty great as I rather just watched this than buy the eventful Hickman Avengers Omnibus. There were parts that almost lost my interest but then the reveal with Doom and how everything starts paying off, sounds pretty great.
ComicsIsland has plenty of similar theme episodes, which is pretty great as well as review episodes and fun top ten lists and such.
. . .
Since I bought the variant cover at Hastings, I was awarded with a giant poster of the Battleworld Map!
I do enjoy being able to hold the entire map and seeing everything larger than I can on a computer screen.
I’ve tried my hand at scanning the one I have :
That isn’t any better but maybe someone with sweet skills can make that work.
I’m trying to find an image with all of the covers revealed, as at this point, only three portions of the map are still CLASSIFIED and no further information is available on those.
Apparently, Marvel released a trailer for this event and had started connecting with portions are which titles.
Thanks to Marvel Entertainment for hosting their own video, also this next video!
This was the first video of The Watcher’s that I have seen. I’ve seen previous videos of Lorraine Cink’s advertised before but I may have to check more of them out.
I was surprised that Wikipedia had the full list and the corresponding titles, that is pretty handy!
Battleworld map
Following numerous incursions across the multiverse, the remains of various realities have been fused together to create a new Battleworld. All of these realities are known as domains and have the ability to interact with each other, except for three (consisting of the Deadlands, Perfection and New Xandar) which are separated from the rest by the Wall for the simple fact that these domains contains threats that if set loose, would destroy all the others.
The following is a list of the domains and the Marvel Comics event titles that are their basis or reimagining as revealed on Marvel Comics’ Interactive Battleworld map. Secret Wars #2 will publish a complete guide to each domain:
43. Timely (may or may not be one of the classified domains) – The town of Timely where all the Marvel characters exist in an 1872 Wild West setting.
44. Genosha (may or may not be one of the classified domains) – The island that became the Mutant homeland and where the E is For Extinction mini-series will be set.
45. Holy Wood and Forest Hills (may or may not be one of the classified domains) – Though mentioned in the solicitation for the Korvac Saga, they are not shown on the Battleworld map.
Special thanks and shoutout to whomever typed all of that up and figuring it out!
I was looking for this Marvel Interaction Secret Wars 2015 Battlemap page but unfortunately it is only a hotlink on their main page for the event, so I’m not sure if it will still be an active website but it should work for a while, I imagine.
A nice brief summary of what each portion of Battleworld and which comic series that it correspondences with.
The titles and sections of the map that I’m mostly interested in, and at the very least, tracking are –
Number – Region Title – Comic Title
3 – Domain of Apocalypse – Age of Apocalypse
Which is above Limbo (which I’m also tracking) to the left of both Egyptia and Technopolis (which I’m not tracking). To the left of it is – Mutopia to the top left, Westchester (the FOX X-Men Animated series by Chris Sims) shares a small border and The Wastelands makes up the bulk of it.
11 – K’un-Lun – Master of Kung Fu
Which is to the right of Regency (the world if Peter never made a deal with THE DEVIL to undo his marriage to Mary Jane, so that his elderly aunt can live a few more years) / below King James’ England (the 1602 world) / to the right of Utopolis and above Weirdworld
17 – Marville – Giant Size Little Marvel
Which is surrounded by Utopolis above it, Arachnia to the right and New Quack City – where Howard the Duck is from, below it.
20 – Manhattan – a) Attilan (Inhumans) b) Proper Marvel New York City c) Ultimate Marvel New York City d ) Monster Metropolis
Don’t care about the Inhumans, but I’m sure b & c are going to crucial to the main series and whichever titles are not associated with a certain portion (such as Star Lord and Age of Apocalypse Kitty Pryde) and Ultimate should be where Ultimate End takes place in. Monster Metropolis is where Shiklah‘s kingdom is.
They are surrounded by several locations too! High Avalon to the left / CLASSIFIED above / CLASSIFIED to the left / The City (but not the City from The Tick, unfortunately) below. I imagine those CLASSIFIED locations are important only because of how close they are to the most important locations.
29 – Monarchy of M – House of M
I highly doubt SHIELD agent Illyana Rasputin or school teacher, Kitty Pryde, are going to be in this at all. Killville (where MODOK is important) to the top right and 2099 to the bottom right. 2099 is suppose to be a title that survives this event, somehow.
30 – Sentinel Territories – Years of Future Past
Killville to the left / 2099 to the bottom left / The Wastelands (Old Man Logan) to the bottom right / Mutopia (Morrison’s E is for Extinction) to the right
37 – Limbo – Inferno
Limbo, being so vast, covers quite some ground on Battleworld. Well, until I realize it was suppose to be a globe, so now I want a gif of the map spinning so I can get a better grasp on it. To the top of it is Domains of Apocalypse, along with 36 and 31 and below it (but separated by the SHIELD) is both The Deadlands (Marvel Zombies) & Perfection (Age of Ultron). Which makes sense as there is a comic, Age of Ultron v Marvel Zombies, which seems highly missable to me now. New Xandar (where Thanos is kept) is also separated by THE SHIELD. The SHIELD is there to prevent the horrors from escaping into the rest of Battleworld.
So this is all pretty exciting!
I was looking at the map, to make this post an my wife had a few things to add. First, that the Battleworld doesn’t look like Earth. Which brought her to ask if America was even represented. Which sort of blew my mind, as Battleworld is now like 90 percent American. There is an England, Egypt, Howard the Duck world, and maybe Mars? but the other 30 sections are American. New Xandar is Xandrian. Limbo is a different dimension. K’un -Lun is also another dimension.
I own a lot of Fantastic Four anniversary issues, is what I’ve learn from this Fantastic Four month.
This issue marks the 50th Anniversary and 600th issue of Fantastic Four. It is also 104 pages (get it? with the four pages?).
I’m glad to finally write this review as I know that it goes FF 11 -> Fantastic Four 600 but I kept having to recheck it in the days leading up to this post.
This issue has five chapters, but I am only concentrating on the first one.
Latveria. Doctor Doom, Nathaniel Richards and Alternate Reed Richards counterpart.
The Baxter Building. Home of the Future Foundation.
The Other Side of Zero. The Anti-Priest of Annihilus.
Attilan. Floating Citadel of the Inhumans.
The Forever City. The Reborn Supreme Intelligence of the Kree.
New York. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Assembled.
Anyone know what the difference between the different patterns on the Four’s uniforms? Or why they were choosen? I get that they represent the member, but why does Reed have a hollow top of the triangle. Sue has a hollow right side. Grimm has a hollow left side. Spider-Man has his spider symbol.
I side with comicbookdb.com over Marvel Database as saying that Kitty Pryde is in this issue.
See in the middle panel, with all of the heroes? There is a brunette with a yellow and blue uniform but a black mask. So people think it is Mockingbird but it is clearly Kitty Pryde but with a mask on. I say it is more that than Mockingbird wearing the wrong outfit and with the wrong colored hair.
But I’ve decided to leave Marvel Database alone, as I can’t say with hundred percent accuracy that this an official Shadowcat appearance. From FF 11, we know she is present but like in the Sentry arc of New Avengers, just because we know she is around, doesn’t mean it is worth keeping the issue but I believe there is a chance that is suppose to be Kitty.
The gathered heroes are about to fight the invading Kree ships.
Even with the stakes at an all time high, Namor finds an opportunity to hit on Sue in front everybody. Ben calls him on it.
Doctor Strange is fighting in a black business suit.
The Other Side of Zero. The Anti-Priest and his crew are upset as the Kree attack is not the end of the world they had planned. He seeks guidance from Annihilus. He recommends starting their plan immediately. They are going to siege the Baxter Building.
On the Other Side of the World. Castle Doom. For some reason, Nathaniel Richards is a young man instead of the age of a man whose son is in his fifties.
Kristoff, who is still around, surprisingly. He is the man on the throne. Nathaniel wants him to accept someone into the country. Doom is a prisoner of Nathaniel’s. Now that I have typed all of this, I believe Nathaniel Richards was the real name of Young Avengers’ Iron Lad.
Attilan. Black Bolt, Medusa and the Inhumans are caught in the middle of Earth and the Kree attack. Medusa wants them to leave but Black Bolt disagrees.
The art implies that there is a connection between Black Bolt and Supreme Intelligence. Which doesn’t make any sense as Supreme Intelligence was only re-created in the previous issue. Maybe it is only a transition panel, as next, we follow the Supreme Intelligence is chatting with Ronan the Accuser and his wife, Crystal.
The Supreme Intelligence reveals to the couple that long ago, the Accusers went around destroying the planets that the experiment that created the Inhumans, were also performed on. Ronan was not a part of this.
Earth. Captain America announces that they have pushed back the Kree. Reed gives the nod to Susan, she pushes a force field through Iron Man’s armor. The entire island of Manhattan is encased in a giant force field. Now there is a crashed ship inside the force field.
The Baxter Building. The kids are about to teleport the top three floors to the Moon, when some Negative Zone aliens appear.
Soho. The Thing is on his way to save Alicia. He brought along She-Hulk and Red Hulk. They have to fight several Kree Sentries.
Baxter Building. Alex Power is keeping back the aliens, as best as he can, alone. Leech has control over his turning off others powers.
Val is ready to teleport the floors, once Alex makes it up the stairs. I am not sure who this Bentley kid is.
Reed sees from a distance that the top three floors are gone. Reed sends Spider-Man to make sure no one was left behind.
The Negative Zone aliens are about to open the portal to the Negative Zone. Spider-Man starts fighting fools. The portal opens, revealing . . .
So this issue, besides being the 600th issue, is also known for Human Torch coming back to the land of the living. Hickman “killed” him off in an earlier issue, well, more like left him for dead in the Negative Zone.
There are additional stories, like the on-the-nose titled, What Happened to Johnny? but the main one is the reason why I bought this.
Finishers : Kitson, Scott Hanna, Scott Koblish, Jay Leisten and Mark Pennington
Color Artist Paul Mounts
Letterer VC’s Clayton Cowles
Cover Dated December 2011
Cover by Steve Epting
Whenever I see this cover in my cover collection on comicbookdb.com, I see it as Doctor Doom v Reed Richards, but it is Reed v Ronan the Accuser.
It is pretty maddening how difficult this series is to Google!
I own this for the two Kitty appearances!
Okay, I will try to recap the Previous On as Hickman had a bunch going on and I only read this issue and issue 600 and most of it just went over my head as I’m pretty sure I just read the two pages Kitty Pryde was on and moved on.
So apparently there are a bunch of Reed Richards who came together to make the universes better. They want to bring on something called, The War of the Four Cities. The Inhumans captured two of the last four of them. Ronan the Accuser is the ruler of the Kree Empire. Thing, who is an Avenger, has brought his new pals and various other heroes together.
Onto the issue. Baxter Building. oh, and the title is FF because with Human Torch believed dead, they changed their name and uniforms (to white) and now they are Future Foundation. Part of the FF goals is that they are running a school. Franklin and Leech are students of the school. Everyone had a school during 2011.
Franklin and Leech are using walkie talkies. Their codenames are Hyperstorm and Kid Incredible. I wonder if Franklin going by his possible son’s codename worried anyone.
There is an ad for Spider-Man Edge of Time, which I still haven’t played. If they went with Noir instead of 2099, I would probably have bought it. They even brought over the 2099 free fall levels which I hated in the Shattered Dimension game.
Other students are Alex Powers, of Power Pack, Dragon Man (who isn’t a simpleton), Valeria Richards and three Morloids.
There is an ad for the video game, X-Men Destiny, which I heard had an item with Shadowcat’s name in it but that wasn’t enough for me to buy it. Pretty cool that Mike Carey wrote the story for it. I meant to buy it when it became a twenty dollar game but by then, my precious PS3 had Yellow Light of Death (YLoD).
The students are building something. Reed passes by, takes a glance and enters the room. Reed talks to his daughter and Val tells him that they expanded the teleportion capabilities to cover three floors instead of the one. Val is concerned as the Baxter Building isn’t just the home of the Fantastic Four anymore, they have a school there, people work in the rest of the building, protective measures need to be taken.
Attilan. Diablo (with a narly face burn) and Thinker are the prisoners of Ronan and the Inhumans. Ronan is married to Crystal, so he’s husband number two for her. Good for her, now she is the Queen of the Kree Empire. Or whatever female title one has for what Ronan is. Ronan has plans for the two Reed Richards that they have prisoner.
The Other Side of Zero. The Cult of the Negative Zone. This bald guy with a minus symbol on his forehead, is contacting Annihilus. The guy informs him that they are succeeding in moving amplifying devices, called Obelisks, that expands the bridge between Earth and the Negative Zone. They are trying to get access to the biggest portal on Earth, which is in the Baxter Building.
The Baxter Building. Reed is about to start a speech but takes the time to apologize for his ignorance, he thought he could handle the situation by himself, he should have reached out once the situation got as big as it did.
Here is a larger version :
Nice of Reed to call the gathered heroes the best group of heroes the world has to offer.
She-Hulk takes a moment to chat with Susan about Thing being back with the team. Thing is happy to hear Susan take responsibility for running him off the team in the first place. Susan then tells Jenn that it would be nice for Ben to clean the dishes from time to time. Grimm shouts that he clean the dishes out last night. Sue kisses him on the check, she is glad he is home again.
Spider-Man asks them to be quiet, Reed just explained how everyone is going to be killed. Captain America compliments Reed for a good speech.
The Forever Cit. Protectorate of Attilian. Ronan’s big plan for two Reeds is to combine them into the Supreme Intelligence, so that guy is alive again. He wants to know where his armies are.
The Baxter Building. Shadowcat gives Wolverine a look of comfort.
The final page is the entire Kree Spacefleet in the skies of Earth, so it is very much on.
This issue leads directly into Fantastic Four 600. Which we will review in a couple days.
Story Jason Aaron, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction and Jonathan Hickman
Script Matt Fraction
Pencils Olivier Coipel
Inks Mark Morales
Colors Laura Martin
Letters Chris Eliopoulos
Cover by Jim Cheung
Cover Dated September 2012
What Came Before :
The Phoenix Force has arrived! Tony Stark built a “Phoenix Killer” suit of armor to stop the potentially cataclysmic cosmic entity, instead he fragmented it, causing portions of the force to inhabit in X-Men Cyclops, Magik, Colossus, Emma Frost and Namor!
In the days since, the Phoenix Five have been on a mission to reshape the world, destroying armaments, raising crops, purifying water. However, there are still those who don’t trust the all-consuming nature of the Phoenix Force. The Avengers launch a mission to kidnap Hope, believing that she still holds the secret to the Phoenix Force’s power.
The X-Men disrupt their plans, and just as it looks like the war will start anew, the Scarlet Witch appears, speaking of visions of a terrible future and then leaving with Hope and the Avengers. Believing the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will never allow mutants to live in peace, Cyclops makes a vow : “No More Avengers.”
The Avengers are –
Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, Spider-Man, Black Widow, Vision, Valkyrie, Doctor Strange, Spider-Woman, Red Hulk, Luke Cage, Mockingbird, Daredevil, Thing Giant Man, Iron Fist, Black Panther, Wolverine, Beast, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Falcon, She-Hulk and Sharon Carter
While doing the review for issue three, I saw that Captain America is on the cover to issues four and eight as well. To let you in on the process for picking which 14 comics to do for these Event Months, at least one aspect. I go to my cover gallery of my collection, over at comicbookdb, and I look for all covers that I can clearly see Cap on. Also, which covers had the shield, as then, if you see that, Cap isn’t that far behind. If you ever see your cover gallery, they are done in a four by five grid, so not the largest images. In this case, I overlooked them, thus, they are not on the list. The list is plenty long enough, so I won’t be adding to it with those. There are other steps to the process, but that is the biggest step, after choosing the character.
The Phoenix Five are all powerful and super intimidating, with how their word balloons don’t leak cosmic fire, they explode with it!
The Avengers are hiding, which Cyclops enjoys but Scarlet Witch showed up last issue, and her power somehow hurts the Phoenix Five. So now Cyclops wants to seek her out and take her off the board. Plus, she undid the mutant race with a sentence fragment – which is an awesome line, I wonder how long Fraction sat on that one.
Magik has located the Avengers. She along with Warpath, Nate Grey, Gambit, Havok and Polaris are on their way.
Colossus does nothing with his Phoenix powers, he sits around and watches.
Captain America throws his mighty shield but Polaris reflects it.
Captain America shouts, Avengers — Scramble! Which is another good line, which makes sense with Fraction on script.
Gambit tries to talk to Iron Fist and gets a shut up in return. Danny can probably take that accent for only so long.
Spider-Woman venom blasts Warpath.
Tony Stark is in the command center. He tells Wanda to focus her power, as he needs to collect data on how her power relates to the Phoenix.
The half page of Wanda, reminds me that Coipel drew House of M, so he gets to draw her again here.
On the next page, Magik gets her own half page panel. She looks magnificent. Of the Phoenix Five, her new costume is my favorite with Cyclops’ a decent second. If he wasn’t wearing a red thong over his pants, it would be a closer second. What’s the alternative? Red thong, but no pants?
Magik wants to kill the Scarlet Witch, in the name of the mutant race. It really is something Wanda needs to keep having thrown in her face, no matter how Marvel tries to distance her from the Decimation.
Havok and Polaris take out Vision, Wanda’s former husband, thus she gets unfocused with rage.
Once Magik collapses, Emma arrives. She calls Wanda, the murderer of the mutant race. Captain America wants an emergency evacuation.
By the time Doctor Stange arrives, Hawkeye has jumped at Emma. He fires an arrow with a big explosion. Emma is not thrilled by this, and straight up sets him on fire!
Cyclops is not pleased, the end goal is to work together to make the world better. Emma states she had no intention to kill Hawkeye. She immediately started healing him. Namor believes they should just kill anyone who gets in their way.
Cyclops tells him, that they are shutting the Avengers down at every turn, there is no reason for such measures.
Namor shouts that this isn’t a gang fight, it is war. This is when I realized that Namor is as outside the X-Men as it gets. He spent some time with Xavier in the Illuminati, but as an equal. Xavier was never an ideal or any sort of guidepost.
Magik speaks up. She is under the impression that they might have this power to take Wanda out as she seems to be the only person who can hurt them.
Cyclops is using the X-Birg to hold prisoners. He claims this is a rescue mission, not a war.
Wakanda. Cap is trying to rally. They need wins to keep morale going. Tony tries to make a joke, and Cap shuts him down. If it wasn’t for Tony, the Phoenix Five won’t even be a thing right now. A fact, I wouldn’t let Tony forget, even three years later.
Though in Gillen’s Uncanny run, he reveals that the Five Lights that will make up Generation Hope, would have been part of the Phoenix along with Hope. Unit is the character who tells this information. He already saw happen once, he wanted this time to see what happens when the wrong five out the power. So Tony is only largely to blame.
Tony needs more data, and Black Panther is there to also analyze the information. Cap leaves disgusted.
Black Panther looks over Tony’s plans for his next Anti-Phoenix armor. Who ever pilots it when confronting the Phoenix would surely die.
Black Panther smacks Tony, like Tony was a bitch. In the dialogue, Tony implies it was a sucker punch but the art and lettering tells a different story. SMAK is definitely a smack and Black Panther’s arm after the follow through, is in a slap position instead of a punch position. It is also pretty limp wristed too.
Black Panther believes science can only go so far, they might have to mix it with magic. Tony is not happy, but he failed and now the Phoenix Five are terrorizing them, so he should shut up.
Cap gives the rest of the Avengers a set rep. The plan is to send out Wanda when one of the five shows up. Doctor Stange brings out Enchantments of Ikonn, who wears this will appear in the form of the Scarlet Witch. Strange states that they are to be used selectively and only under extreme circumstances.
Cap has a team of Sharon Carter, Luke Cage, Daredevil and Spider-Man. Colossus, Magma, Sunspot, Psylocke and Danger show up. Luke Cage gets dragged into a portal, screaming out for Captain America. The screams will probably haunt Cap’s thoughts for days. As soon as Luke Cage is in the portal, Cap tells Sharon to wear the enchantment.
Sharon is the worst, as she can’t mirror Wanda’s powers in the least. The appearance of Wanda is enough to scare Colossus into calling for reinforcements.
The Ukraine, was not familiar with the country having the need for the ‘the’ before it. Turns out, there is a Scarlet Witch there, too.
The Artic Circle, has one.
The Pacific Ocean, has the real Wanda standing up.
I like the implication that Doctor Stange told them to only use image spell for dire situations, and it seems like everyone pretty much used it as soon as any X-Men showed up. At least attempt a fight.
Namor fights Wanda. Doctor Stange, Thing and Mockingbird all teleport back to Wakanda along with Transonic slipping in at the last second. She will be the Avengers first prisoner.
Wanda powers up, and does the House of M brick separation spell, making Namor break apart. He makes it back to Utopia, not pleased.
I thought Cyclops’ red thong over the pants was the worst design of the Phoenix Five suits, but Colossus is barely wearing a skirt / loincloth hybrid. He has always suffered from having suits that only look good once he is armored up. His suits would look silly on a hanger.
Namor is way out for blood, and has no taste for how slow he is taking things. Going as far as to claim that Cyclops is a fine leader, but poor ruler.
Tony believes there is a connection between the Phoenix Force and Wanda’s Chaos Magic. Iron Fist introduces Tony to his fellow Immortal Weapon, Lei Kung – the Thunderer. They want to take Hope to K’un Lun and give her Phoenix fighting training there. Tony wonders if they can all go.
Namor is by himself brooding. Emma shows up, and we get another glimpse of their on again flirtation that they keep happening into when Cyclops isn’t around and once when he was around.
Emma reminds Namor how Scott is an actual boy scout, so make world changing decisions are new to him. Emma knows where Transonic is, thus she knows where the Avengers are. They make out.
Captain America reconfirms that they can travel between the two planes of existence. Thunderer states they can. Black Panther is in the process of moving all the equipment to the magical city.
One of the Wakandan soldiers comes with grave news. The lakes are rising and a tidal wave approaches. Cap knows what that means.
Issue ends with a double page splash – literally – has Namor declares WAR! as a tidal wave crashes unto Wakanda. People are for sure dead.
