Avengers Forever #10
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow…
Seven time lost Avengers have been gathered to protect Rick Jones from Immortus who wishes their old ally dead for to prevent a dystopian future from unfolding.[1] With Rick Jones missing, the team was betrayed to Immortus by Yellowjacket.[2] Now the remaining Avengers wake up to find themselves in a stone chamber.
Wondering who they are, they exit the chamber and realize that they are in the distant future that Immortus is trying to prevent. They are surrounded by an army of the Galactic Avengers Battalion and are being ordered to surrender.[1] The time lost Avengers try to explain who they are but that’s when Captain Marvel’s Cosmic Awareness kicks in. He reveals to the others that the reason why the Galactic Avengers Battalion is being so hostile toward them is because they appear as the Guardians of the Galaxy, outlaws in this era. Soon a battle breaks out and the Avengers are making their way through the horde until they are snared in capti-nets. Suddenly, the Avengers suddenly feel charged with power as they are able to access the Destiny Force to break free from the trap. Unfortunately, this power only lasts for a moment and they are captured once more. That’s when Legion-Masters Jonz Rickard — a descendant of Rick Jones — arrives on the scene. He orders the “Guardians” locked up until their scheduled execution.
Placed in a cell, the Avengers begin to try and make sense of what happened and their next move when, suddenly, a passage opens in the wall. On the other side is Yellowjacket, who has come to rescue them. However, they quickly learn that he is now working for Immortus. Via an astral projection, Immortus explains that he showed the Avengers this possible future to let them experience it first hand. He implores the team to follow Yellowjacket because they have only one last chance to save humanity from annihilation at the hands of his masters, the Time Keepers.[3]
The passage way leads to the great hall of the Time Keepers where they and Immortus are waiting for their arrival. The Keepers explain that this is the future that will come to be if the human race becomes a space faring society. They also explain their purpose, that they were created by He Who Remains at the end of time to preserve the timestream and ensure that all time ends with the Time Keepers. This task is made more difficult as time aberrations can cause the Time Keepers to be replaced with their destructive counterparts, the Time Twisters.[4] To allow humanity to reach the stars will cause great harm to the time stream. Although he has been both treacherous and incompetent in the past, the Time Keepers have allowed Immortus one last chance to speak on humanity’s behalf.[5] Immortus, acting as defense for the Avengers, explains how he has been taking steps in all present day timelines to ensure that this doesn’t come to pass. He details how he erased an aberrant timeline where a Skrull infiltration in 1959 prompts man to the stars.[6] In another, he assisted the Martian Masters in their invasion of Earth to ensure that all off world travel was destroyed.[7] In modern times, he convinced the Badoon to invade the Earth. While this was thwarted by the Silver Surfer, he set the stage for another Badoon invasion in the 30th century.[8]
Immortus insists that humanity can be allowed to exist if they are contained to Earth, thus protecting the timeline. The Time Keepers consider this idea mad given the tenacity of humanity. They remind Immortus how humans have been one of the only beings in existence to drive off Galactus and prevent him from consuming their world.[9] The human race has also been able to defy the judgement of the Celestials.[10] Lastly, in an incident that has yet to happen, humanity is able to thwart the machinations of the so-called Infinities.[11] As the Time Keepers lean more toward wiping out humanity, Yellowjacket realizes that his deal with Immrotus is turning into a preverbal deal with the devil. The idea of countless lives being wiped out doesn’t sit well with him so he sends a command to the Limbo buts he has been controlling to get around to act.
That’s when Captain America pipes up and asks what the percentage of realities damaged by humanity is. When the answer is 42%, Captain America points out that this is far less than half and that condemning humanity on such a small margin is not justice. Goliath also finds the Time Keeper’s reasoning bullshit, pointing out that they don’t give a crap about the timelines, just their future survival. The Wasp also believes that with all the possible timelines and divergences out there there must be some other kind of solution available. When it’s clear that they aren’t getting through to the Time Keepers, Yellowjacket’s Limbo bugs pick the locks on the power dampening shackles that are keeping the Avengers restrained. They try to take the fight to the Time Keepers themselves, but they are powerful enough to match whatever is being thrown at them.
When all seems lost a temporal portal suddenly opens and from it a massive battle cycle carrying Rick Jones, Kang, and the Supreme Intelligence has arrived to event the odds!
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Wasp, Goliath, Captain America, Hawkeye, Yellowjacket, Captain Marvel, Songbird), Rick Jones, Kang, Immortus, Supreme Intelligence, Jonz Rickard,
Continuity Notes
The Avengers were all plucked from different points in history as seen in Avengers Forever #1 and explained last issue. They are:
Captain America circa Captain America #175, after he discovered that the President of the United States was secretly the leader of the Secret Empire.
Hawkeye was plucked out of time circa Avengers #99. This was after he returned to Earth following the Kree/Skrull War without his Goliath growth serum or his trick arrows.
Yellowjacket was abducted from Avengers #60. Actually Hank Pym, a mental breakdown convinced him that he was someone else and that he killed Hank Pym.
Goliath and the Wasp come from the present day, having been plucked out of time circa Avengers (vol. 3) #11.
Songbirdand by extension Captain Marvel) aren’t from the mainline Marvel Universe, but an alternate reality. Per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #5, it has been designated Reality-98120.
We first saw this reality in Avengers Forever #1. In issue #8, we learned that this future will likely happen if the Avengers expand into a space faring organization. Per the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #3, this possible future exists in Reality-9812.
Yellowjacket allied himself with Immortus in Avengers Forever #7 in exchange for not being allowed to change back to ordinary Hank Pym and to remain married to the Wasp. As seen in Avengers #60, Yellowjacket’s persona came due to Hank Pym having a mental breakdown, leading him to believe he was someone else entirely. Although he got over this mental break and did marry the Wasp, the union ended in divorce after Hank struck her years later in Avengers #213.
He Who Remains created the Time Keeper and/or the Time Twisters depending on the state of the mutliverse. The reality where the Time Keepers are born is #794282 and the reality with the Time Twisters is #761243 per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #5. We first glimpsed these timelines in Thor #245.
The Time-Keepers are referring to how Immortus attempted to exploit the Scarlet Witch’s nexus being powers for his own ends, and later tried to become all powerful by creating a Time Quake. See Avengers West Coast #61-62 and What If? (vol. 2) #35-39.
This alternate 1959 had existed in Reality-9904 (per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #3) first seen in What If? #9 until it was destroyed in Avengers Forever #5.
The Martian invasion timeline is Reality-9930 per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #3. It was visited by the time lost Avengers in Avengers Forever #4-6.
The Badoon invasion that Immortus is speaking of took place in Silver Surfer #3. The 30th century invasion actually happened in the future timeline in Reality-631 (designated in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Realities 2005 #1). We first seen a Badoon dominated world in Marvel Super-Heroes #18. While the first Badoon invasion is mirrored on both Earth-616 and Earth-691, these timelines have diverged from one another following the events of Marvel Two-In-One #69.
By this time, the Fantastic Four had famously driven Galactus off Earth on four occasions in Fantastic Four #48-50, 74-77, 120-123, and 242-244. It’s later revealed that Galactus was actually driven from Earth centuries earlier by Leonardo Da Vinci and the Brotherhood of Shield in S.H.I.E.L.D. #3.
The Eternals came to judge the planet Earth in Eternals #7. They will ultimately be force to judge in humanity’s favor in Thor #300.
The Avengers would clash with the Infinities in Avengers: Infinity #1-4.
Topical References
References to the present day taking place in the 20th century should be considered topical. The Sliding Timescale has pushed the Modern Age forward so that it does not begin until after the start of the 21st century.
