Nick Peron

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All-Winners Comics #21

Menace From the Future World!

Credits

Captain America and Bucky call together the All-Winners Squad and tell them of a new menace: While they were staking out the hideout of Madame Death, they witnessed as Future Man, a time traveller from the year One Million AD appeared and offered Madame Death and her gang a place in his new world order if they assist him in taking over the world so that it can be taken over by his people from the future, whose world has been left dying. When Captain America and Bucky attempted to stop them, Future Man's advanced technology allowed them to escape to begin plotting their conquests of each continent of the world.

Finishing his story, Captain America dispatches each member of the All-Winners Squad to a different part of the world: The Whizzer to South America, the Sub-Mariner to Asia, Miss America to Africa, the Human Torch and Toro to North America and himself and Bucky to Europe.

The Green Plague!

Arriving in Europe, Captain America and Bucky are loaned a jeep by occupation forces to search for Future Man. Meanwhile, Future Man and Madame Death have arrived in the continent as well, taking up base in the Swiss Alps. Taking over a mountain laboratory, Future Man begins preparing his Green Plague Bomb, a biological weapon that can kill those infected in moments and can wipe out about two billion people. After completing his bomb he has one of Madame Death's minions drop the bomb in a nearby village, killing everyone in it in moments. Captain America and Bucky arrive after the genocide and search the dead town, finding fragments of the bomb. Finding an imprint identifying it was purchased at Chalot Berne, the two heroes go there to question the owner on who purchased the metal. There they are told it was bought by Dr. Valder and gives them directions to his laboratory in the Alps.

Captain America and Bucky arrive at the lab and witness Future Man and his cohorts making dozens of the bombs. They are discovered by Future Man's telepathic powers and he sends Madame Death's men out to stop them. Captain America and Bucky flee up the mountain and roll down a snow ball, making it big enough to knock through the gang. They flee back into the base to warn Future Man and Madame Death just as Captain America and Bucky cause an avalanche to tumble down on the lab. Future Man and Madame Death manage to flee, but are chased by the two heroes. When Cap attempts to punch Future Man he realizes that their foe is there as an astral projection and he fades away. When they turn to face Madame Death they find that she too is gone as well.

With his first plan foiled, Future Man decides to focus on the next part of his world domination plan.

Murder in Slow Motion!

In South America, the Whizzer gets a telegram from Captain America telling him that they successfully defeated the Future Man in Europe but he escaped.

Meanwhile, Madame Death and some of her men arrive in South America with the astral projection of Future Man. There they meet her cohorts in the area, and Future Man projects the plans on how to build a slow motion ray device into their minds. With the weapon complete they unleash it on the continent causing every living thing to start moving in slow motion causing all sorts of accidents. The Whizzer finds that he has also been slowed down by the device but can still run fast enough to get to the source of the disturbance.

He confronts Future Man, Madame Death and their minions and is too fast for them. That is until Future Man has his minions train the slow motion ray's full power on the Whizzer, stopping the hero long enough to be tied up. The Whizzer manages to speed off and cut off his ropes with the knife of a farmer before running back and smashing the slow motion ray. He ties up Madame Death and Future Man, but Future Man's astral form fades away and he uses his telekinetic abilities to pull her to safety.

Future Man then continues to plot his next scheme to take over the world.

Wave of Destruction!

The Sub-Mariner arrives in China where he gets a telegram informing him of Captain America, Bucky and Whizzer's victory over Future Man. As Namor searches for signs of the Future Man, he hears a SOS being radioed by a ship at sea being attacked by pirates. Namor swims out to the ship and attacks the pirates.

As Namor fights, the battle is being watched by Madame Death and Future Man. Madame Death promises Future Man that she will recruit the pirates to assist them on their next mission. They interrupt Namor's fight by dropping a dark bomb on the vessel and with a submarine help the pirates escape. Namor dives into the water and follows after them. Aboard the sub, Madame Death and Future Man secure the pirates assistance with their next plan.

Getting the pirates to put on diving suits, Future Man leads them across the ocean floor. Their passage is witnessed by a mermaid who finds Namor and brings Namor to them. He arrives just as the pirates are preparing to launch a special torpedo made by Future Man that will cause a massive tsunami and wipe out the entire continent of Asia.

Namor attacks and easily defeats the pirates, impressing Future Man enough to offer Namor a place by his side. When Namor refuses, Future Man knocks him out with a mental bolt and then has the pirates tie the hero to the torpedo and launch it. Namor is freed by fish that swim up and chew through the rope. Namor then disarms the torpedo and swims off as it harmlessly smashes into a reef. While Namor is busy rounding up the pirates, Madame Death and Future Man flee the scene to attempt their next plan.

The Living Dead!

Miss America is flying over Egypt as she patrols Africa to try and find a sign of Future Man and Madame Death. She suddenly spots an army of mummies attacking a caravan and comes to their rescue. She attacks the mummies and they flee back to a pyramid where Madame Death and Future Man are hiding out and using another device from the future to reanimate the corpses of the ancient Egyptians to invade Africa with an army of the dead.

Miss America arrives and after fighting off the mummies again, she attacks Madame Death, prompting her and Future Man to flee deeper into the pyramid. Miss America destroys Future Man's device and follows after them but is trapped in an air tight passage to die. Future Man's astral form enters the room to mock her, but makes the mistake of pointing out a statue in the room which is really a secret switch to escape. When Miss America attempts to capture the two villains, they both reveal that they are merely astral forms and vanish.

As Miss America leaves she hopes the Human Torch and Toro succeed in defeating their foes.

Flames of Fury!

After getting a telegram from the others informing them of their success, the Human Torch and Toro pace around their apartment waiting for Future Man to show his hand.

Aboard an airship over Canada, the Future Man informs Madame Death that he is going to create a distraction for the Torch and Toro while they carry out their plot elsewhere. He starts a massive forest fire in a logging camp to draw the two heroes out.

As the Human Torch and Toro go to lend a hand to stop the fires in Canada, Future Man and Madame Death travel to the Southern United States. There they have one of their minions create an Atomic Match, a device that can burn the very atoms of anything and they literally set the desert on fire. Back in Canada the Torch and Toro finish their job and hear a radio report about he fire down south.

They rush to the desert and see that there is a massive fire that cannot be put out by water because it burns the very atoms of the water as well. Immune to the flames while they are using their powers, the Torch and Toro soon realize that the fire cannot burn through its own ashes and they succeed in dousing the flames with the ash, foiling Future Man's plot again.

As Future Man's astral form fades away he warns the two flaming heroes that he has a Neutronic Bomb that he will set off and wipe out the entire Earth.

War Between the Worlds!

The All-Winners Squad reunite in the United States and begin trying to learn where Future Man's time ship is hidden. They all recount their various missions and the common factor to all of them was a strange black cloud that was in the vicinity wherever Future Man struck.

Captain America then sends Miss America, the Torch and Toro out to find the black cloud. They locate it over a desert and fly inside, spotting Future Man's ship within. Realizing they have been spotted, Future Man tries to flee, but the Torch and Toro melt the ship causing it to crash in the desert just as the Whizzer, Captain America, Bucky and the Sub-Mariner arrive.

Inside, Miss America knocks out Madame Death, while the Torch and Toro destroy Future Man's time radio, preventing him from contacting his invasion force from the future. Future Man then decides to return to the future. When he begins activating his time engine, Captain America orders a full retreat. As the heroes exit the time device fades away, however Future Man realizes to his horror that the time machine has been tampered with and they are being hurtled uncontrollably back in time. While in the present, Captain America explains that during the battle he disabled the ships ability to travel forward in time.

With the battle over, the heroes return home confident that with Future Man's defeat no more invaders from the year one million AD will attempt to terrorize the present.

Recurring Characters (All of the above)

All-Winners Squad (Sub-Mariner, Captain America, Bucky, Human Torch, Toro, Miss America, The Whizzer), Future Man, Madame Death

Continuity Notes

  • Per What If? #4, the appearances of Captain America and Bucky here can be attributed to Jeff Mace and Fred Davis.

  • The All-Winners Squad’s victory over Future Man and Madame Death will come back to haunt the team in All-Winners Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1

  • Like all time travelers from the future, Future Man actually comes from an alternate reality. However, at the time of this writing (October 2021) Marvel has yet to assign a reality number to Future Man’s timeline.