In the Heart of Battle

With Kang the Conqueror and his forces invading Europe, the Avengers have to deal with a new threat presented by the so-called Master of the World. Erecting massive walls around every major city in North America, he has demanded that people surrender to him for salvation. A team of Avengers was then deployed to seize control of the massive facility, taking them to its central hub in the Arctic Circle. There, the Master detonated the tunnel the team was traveling through rather than risk himself.

Among the team was Warbird, who was merely knocked out by the blast. As she sleeps she dreams of a time a number of years back when she was returning to Avengers Mansion when she was kidnapped by a man named Marcus Immortus.[1] The son of Immortus, Marcus was trapped in Limbo. Abandoned by his father, he grew lonely and sought out the most beautiful woman he could find and chose Carol. Unaware that her emotions and being manipulated by Marcus’ machines, Carol was swept off her feet as the two engaged in a whirlwind romance. Eventually, Carol was returned to her proper place in time and space but with no memory of what transpired. Shortly after this she discovered that she was somehow pregnant. When she gave birth to the child, it rapidly grew up and revealed that he was Marcus Immortus. Marcus impregnated Carol so she could give birth to him in the time stream so he could escape his prison in Limbo. With his plan an apparent success, Marcus convinced the Avengers to let him and Carol return to rule over Limbo. Something that Carol willingly went along with because she was still under the effects of Marcus’ gaslighting.[2]

After a time, Marcus’ rapid aging kicked back in until his body had withered to dust. With Marcus now dead his machines stopped working allowing Carol to regain control of her thoughts and feelings. She was horrified by what Marcus forced her to do and now she was stranded in Limbo. It took her some time, but she eventually figured out how to work the machines and return to Earth. Not long after that, Carol had her powers and memories stolen from her. While her memories were eventually restored, Carol lacked the emotional connection to them.[3] The only exception is the memory of how Marcus raped her. That one has remained intact even after all these years.[4]

Waking up, Carol finds herself in the artic cold surrounded by the Master of the World’s Plodex wolves. She is able to fend them off for a bit, but is too weak to win the fight so she makes a tactical retreat. She manages to get to higher ground and squeeze through a crevasse to narrow for her pursuers. On the other side she is welcomed by the Scarlet Centurion, Kang’s son, and second-in-command of the invasion of Earth. Warbird is convinced that this is Marcus Immortus reborn as both men have the same eyes and voice. Her past abuse still fresh in her mind, she attacks the Scarlet Centurion savagely, wrecking his armor.

For his part, the Centurion — who is fascinated with Carol — doesn’t fight back and only defends himself against her blows. However, he only has so much patience and eventually he knocks her back and demands she stop attacking him as he has come in peace. Removing his helmet, Marcus Kang — the spitting image of Carol’s former abuser — explains that he has come to offer his assistance against the Master of the World, even though he is her sworn enemy. As a show of good faith, he offers out his halbred so she can absorb the energies from it and recharge her power stores. At first, Carol is about to do it, but remembering how the original Marcus tricked her, thinks this is another ploy to take over her mind and rob her of her agency. This Marcus is confused as he has never met her before and has no idea what she is talking about.

However, he is starting to get the idea, and after starting a fire to keep them warm, tries to explain who he is. He knows of the previous Marcus, from Kang’s files on Immortus, but assures her that while they share the same name and face, he is a different person. He points out these similarities aren’t all that surprising when you consider that Kang and Immortus are the same person, and that both liked the name. He goes on to say that unlike his predecessor, Marcus was raised by Kang and trained to be a noble warrior. Regardless of these facts, Carol still cannot believe him. The fact that Carol would rather die than potentially lose her freedom surprises Marcus.

Still, he wishes to help Warbird reach her goal and leads her to another section of the Master’s ship. Blasting a hole inside, the pair enter and discover that they are in the chamber where members of the Plodex race are kept in storage. There, they are caught by Plodex guards and a firefight breaks out. Surprisingly, Marcus takes charge in a misguided attempt to protect Carol. However, Warbird isn’t some helpless damsel in distress and can fight her own fights, and so she does. When a stray blast strikes a nearby wall, the pair find themselves caught in a vacuum that is pulling them into the other room. On the other side is a massive tentacled creature. Warbird manages to pull herself free while Marcus uses his halbred to stop himself. Carol is about to leave him to die when she realizes that she can and rescues him. Once pulled to safety, Marcus uses his weapon to seal the hole in the wall so the creature can’t get at them.[6]

Marcus hopes that fighting along side Carol has proved that he has only good intentions, but Carol isn’t willing to trust so easily. That’s when she is contacted by Yellowjacket, who reveals that he survived the explosion along with Quicksilver and Silverclaw. Recharging her powers, Carol is about to rendezvous with her fellow Avengers. By this point, Marcus sees that it will take a lot more to convince her that he isn’t trying to manipulate or coerce her into a romance, so he decides to leave. Summoning a transport to return him to Kang’s ship, Marcus tells Carol that he will be there to help her in a time of need, all she need do is call. With that, the Scarlet Centurion departs on his hover sled. With his departure, Carol begins to wonder if she has been unfairly painting this Marcus due to the past deeds of his predacessor.

Meanwhile, at the Avengers space monitoring station, things have been quiet to the point where the Living Lightning is starting to get restless.[7] As Quasar reminds him that they signed onto monitor duty for a reason, the proximity alarm goes off warning them of the approach of an alien ship. Checking the scanners they see a massive pyramid shaped craft heading towards Earth, and it appears to be in a hurry.[8]

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Yellowjacket, Quicksilver, Warbird, Quasar, Living Lightning, Silverclaw), Scarlet Centurion, Marrina

Continuity Notes

1. Warbird’s kidnapping occurred behind the scenes in Avengers #199 as she was coming home from a visit with the Scarlet Witch. Here, Carol doesn’t recall what she was visiting for. At the time, Wanda had taken a leave of absence from the Avengers to contemplate the future of her marriage with the Vision. Wanda wanted to have children and asked Carol for her advice on the subject.

2. Yeah, this cringe worthy and problematic story was told in the pages of Avengers #200.

3. After escaping Marcus’ Limbo, Carol was attacked by Rogue of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. She used her absorption powers to steal all of Carol’s memories and powers as seen in Marvel Super-Heroes (vol. 2) #11 and Avengers Annual #10.

4. Carol lived with the X-Men for a time as Professor X used his powers to restore her memories starting in Uncanny X-Men #153. Xavier was finished by the time she departed in issue #171 of that series.

5. The similarities between Marcus Immortus and Marcus Kang could be chalked up to the fact that they both have the same biological father, albeit from separate divergent timelines. In Avengers (vol. 3) #45, and 54, it’s clarified that Marcus was one of 23 other children spawned by Kang and one of many genetically compatible mates. Kang raised each Marcus to be his successor only to kill them when they failed to live up to his expectations.

6. There are a lot of deep cut references here regarding the Plodex. So let’s get down to it:

   • First of all, the Plodex are an alien race that colonize other worlds by sending ships filled with a massive number of unborn members of their race. Upon awakening on a planet, the Plodex take DNA samples of the indigenous lifeforms and transfer their traits to the Plodex on the ship so they are capable of surviving on this new world and dominating all other life. The ship that crash landed on Earth malfunctioned before this process could begin, and was taken over by the Master. This was all explained in Alpha Flight #16.

   • In one of the stasis tubes is Marrina, a Plodex who was released from the ship. She evolved into an amphibious creature without any of the Plodex colonization programming. She was found by a human family and raised in Atlantic Canada. She eventually became a member of Alpha Flight and later married the Sub-Mariner. Eventually her Plodex programming kicked in the Avengers were forced to kill her. See Alpha Flight #1, 16, 39-40, and Avengers #291-293.

   • However, Marrina didn’t die but entered a death like state according to Lian the Sorcerer in Alpha Flight #78. From here, Marrina’s body will end up in the possession of Norman Osborn who will use her Leviathan form against Namor in Dark Reign: The List - X-Men #1. She will be fully restored in Chaos War: Alpha Flight #1.

   • Carol mentions that the tentacled creature they fought was reportedly killed according to the files provided to the Avengers by Alpha Flight. This is another reference to Alpha Flight #16.

7. In an attempt to be more proactive against threats to the planet Earth, the Avengers set up a satellite in the asteroid belt between Earth and Mars in Avengers (vol. 3) #38. Living Lightning states here that he is studying for his midterms. Miguel has been a reserve Avenger since leaving to pursue a further education in Avengers West Coast #92.

8. This pyramid ship is carrying the Triple Evil, an alien threat that the Triune Understanding has been preparing to fight. See Avengers (vol. 3) #50 for the dope on that.