In the Meantime, In Between Times…

Seven time lost Avengers have been gathered to protect Rick Jones from Immortus who wishes their old ally dead for unknown reasons. Surviving an attack on Chronopolis by Immortus, the band of heroes have escaped into the time stream in one of Kang’s time machines. Detecting three temporal anomalies in the time stream, the Avengers have split into three groups to investigate, leaving Rick to tend to the Sphinx ship.[1]

Having gone back to the year 1959, the Wasp and Captain Marvel discovered a team of Avengers in that era and a Skrull plot to destroy the American space program. That’s when Immortus arrived and used the Forever Crystal to erase this timeline.[2] Scrambling back to their time ship, Janet and Genis-Vell narrowly avoid getting erased along with everything else.

Back in the time stream, the pair land their ship aboard the Sphinx. Once inside, they check on Rick who is trying to make sense of various images that have appeared on the computer screen. One shows Rama-Tut’s meeting with Doctor Doom, another shows Immortus creating a duplicate of the original Human Torch using the Forever Crystal, another shows Immortus officiating over the marriage of the Vision and the Scarlet Witch. The last four include: Thor draining the chronal energies from his hammer to save the planet Phantus, Vance Astrovik meeting his future self, Immortus meeting with Brother Royal of the Badoon, and a marriage between Machine Man and Jocasta.[3]

Meanwhile, Captain America and Goliath have found themselves in a future timeline where Earth has been decimated by alien invaders from Mars. After driving off the Martian forces, this reality’s Avengers want to build new space craft to follow them back to their home base and wipe them out. Before heading off to Wakanda and its supply of Vibranium, a very pregnant Jocasta takes Captain America to a statue of the original Avengers. She tells him how their history of heroics gave them hope for a future where the Earth was free from its Martian invaders. Captain America, coming from a period in which he had become disillusioned with his purpose, wonders what hope one could still have in this world. That’s when this reality’s Black Panther tells them that a ship is ready to take them to Wakanda.

When they arrive in the African nation they are saddened to see that it too was decimated by the Martain invaders. Entering the Vibranium Mound, they are shocked to discover that something has been eating the rare ore. Suddenly, tiny golden humanoid insects with razor sharp wings beging coming out of every nook and cranny of the cavern and begin attacking. As the Avengers fight for their lives, Jocasta suddenly starts going into labor. That’s when the queen of these insects, a human sized winged creature appears. Rather than fight the new foe, Captain America stands his ground, worrying Goliath when the creature places one of her razor sharp talons up to his throat.

Back aboard the Sphinx, Rick and the others are still trying to make sense of the images appearing on the computer monitors. They are shown the time that the Space Phantom worked with the Grim Reaper in an attempt to convince the android to have his mind transferred into the body of Captain America, making him human.[4] Then the scene where Thor drained the chronal energies from his hammer. However, they can’t figure out how all of these moments are connected or what Immortus was trying to gain.

In 1873, Hawkeye, Yellowjacket, and Songbird have been stranded in the days of the American Frontier. This happened when they stumbled upon a chronal anomaly that was already handled by the Avengers in the past.[5] However, the Kang in time machine in the past. Complicating things were the arrival of three Space Phantoms posing as gunslingers from this era, luckily Hawkeye’s knowledge of this era of history helped them expose the impostors and capture them. Their only choice at this point is getting back to Tombstone and sneaking into Kang’s fortress while he is pre-occupied.

At that moment, the Two-Gun Kid has summoned Kid Colt, the Rawhide Kid, the Ringo Kid, and the Night Rider to help liberate his town. As they head down to the hotel where Kang has set up shop, the time traveler unleashes the enslaved horde of the locals. That’s when Kang reveals his true fortress which was being constructed below the hotel he purchased in this era. When the three Avengers arrive on the scene, both Hawkeye and Yellowjacket want to help the gunslingers, but Songbird reminds them that this will be resolved by other Avengers. She then leads them to a secret panel into Kang’s fortress. Inside, they are ambushed by a giant mutated lizard. After they defeat the monster, Yellowjacket surprises Hawkeye when he suddenly punches Songbird out. Blasting “Songbird” with his bio-sting, Yellowjacket reveals that Songbird had been replaced with one of the Space Phantoms they took prisoner. Subduing the Phantom shunts Melissa back from Limbo. With the ruse exposed, the three Avengers find their time ship so they can finally head back to the time stream.

While in the distant future, the Avengers of that era try to rescue Captain America from the glowing butterfly woman threatening his life. He tells them to stand down as he has established a telepathic link with her. He tells the others to open their minds and listen and learn how this being. Called Mourning Prey, this woman was a product of the Martians genetic experiments on humans. Released from captivity by Immortus, she was brought to the Vibranium mount where she could birth her children and they could feed on the rare metal. As they are learning all of this, Goliath has been trying to help Jocasta give birth to her baby, however he is going to need Vibranium to stabilize her body. With very little Vibranium left, Captain America points out to the Black Panther that if they use it to construct ships and get revenge against the Martians, he will be dooming Jocasta, Mourning Prey, and their children to death. Realizing that he can’t bring himself to sacrifice innocent lives, T’Challa lets go of his desire for revenge. A portion of the Vibranium is then used to help Jocasta give birth to her child. In the aftermath of it all, the Black Panther thanks Captain America and Goliath of reminding him of his humanity. Still, Cap finds it peculiar that Immortus orchestrated a situation that would leave the human race stranded on Earth, it almost seems like it was done deliberately. With no answers left to be found in this era, Cap and Goliath head back into the time stream as well.

When the other two away teams finally return, they go over their discovers as well as the images that Rick has pulled up on the computer. None of them can make sense of what the Space Phantoms role is in the grand schemes of Immortus.[5] When Songbird thanks Yellowjacket for saving her he starts hitting on her again. Getting sick of this, Melissa punches him in the gut and tells him to stop because in her time he is married to the Wasp, who is Melissa’s best friend.[7] Captain Marvel gets everyone to focus on the task at hand, reminding them that Immortus can alter timelines with the Forever Crystal and he needs to be stopped. The Avengers all agree that its time to take the fight back to Immortus by striking his stronghold in Limbo. While everyone agrees, Rick Jones has a bad feeling about all of this, while Captain Marvel fears that history is about to repeat itself again.[8]

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Wasp, Goliath, Captain America, Hawkeye, Yellowjacket, Captain Marvel, Songbird), Rick Jones, Avengers-9903 (Black Panther, Thundra, Killraven, Crimson Dynamo, Jocasta, Living Lightning), Two-Gun Kid, Kid Colt, Night Rider, Ringo Kid, Rawhide Kid, Immortus, Space Phantoms, Kang, Banshee, Thunder, Steel, Nightwind

Continuity Notes

1. 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.

2. This isn’t the 1959 of Earth-616, but an alternate reality. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #3 designates it Reality-9904. It was previously seen in What If? #9. In this reality features a team of Avengers that were formed in the 1950s including the characters we see later on. These 1950s Avengers have counterparts on Earth-616 called the Agents of Atlas, who we’ll see in Agents of Atlas #1. As of this writing (in December, 2022) Reality-9904 is still believed to have been destroyed.

3. This is revealing a number of past events and clues to future revelations later on in this series. Let’s break it down:

   • Rama-Tut was the previous identity worn by Kang/Immortus, starting in Fantastic Four #19. He ruled over ancient Egypt until he was driven away by the Fantastic Four. Making a pitstop in the present day, he ended up meeting with Doctor Doom, as seen in Fantastic Four Annual #2. This encounter inspired Rama-Tut to become Kang.

   • The scene where Immortus is duplicating the Human Torch happens after the android was deactivated by the Fantastic Four in Fantastic Four Annual #4. As explained in Avengers Forever #8, this duplication of the Torch was used to manipulate the Avengers. One Torch would be buried in Sub-Mariner #14, the other given to Ultron who rebuilt it into the Vision as seen in Avengers #57-58 and 134-135. Later, the two Torch’s were used to obfuscate and manipulate the Avengers in general and the Scarlet Witch in particular, see West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #42-45 and Avengers West Coast #50.

   • Immortus officiated the wedding between the Vision and the Scarlet Witch as well as Mantis to the Prime Cotati (incorrectly referred to here as the Swordsman). This happened in Giant-Size Avengers #4, and was part of a grander scheme to manipulate the Scarlet Witch.

   • As revealed in Journey into Mystery #86, Thor’s enchanted hammer Mjolnir had the power to travel through time. In Thor #280-281, he was convinced by Immortus and the Space Phantom to drain these energies to save the Phantom’s home world of Phantus. As we’ll learn in Avengers Forever #8, this was all a trick. Phantus isn’t a real planet and the Space Phantoms are the product of Limbo, the domain of Immortus.

   • Vance Astrovik was supposed to grow up to become an astronaut that was sent on a centuries long trip to Alpha Centauri. Awakening in the future he became a member of the 30th century Guardians of the Galaxy in Marvel Super-Heroes #18. In Marvel Two-In-One #69, Vance Astro went back in time to meet his past self and prevent that future from happening. This caused Earth-616 to diverge away from the potential future seen in what is now designated Reality-691, per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005 #1. This is the first time it is revealed that Immortus had a hand in this.

   • Immortus meeting with the Badoon led to their attempted invasion of Earth, which was thwarted in Silver Surfer #2. Immortus’ involvement is confirmed in the references section in the Avengers Forever trade paperback.

   • The marriage of Machine Man and Jocasta is unique to an alternate reality we first started seeing in Avengers Forever #4. Per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #3, this possible future has been index as Reality-9930. It is a variant of Earth-691, circa the invasion of Earth by the Martian Masters first seen in Amazing Adventures (vol. 2) #18.

4. The Grim Reaper and Space Phantom previously tried to tempt the Vision with a human body in Avengers #106-108.

5. Kang was attempting to conquer the 19th century in order to take over the present. He was stopped by Hawkeye’s future self as well as Thor and Moondragon as depicted in Avengers #141-144.

6. Captain America adds that when the Space Phantom worked with the Reaper it was revealed that he was the one who erased all knowledge of Captain America’s secret identity from public knowledge. Captain America publicly revealed that he was Steve Rogers in Tales of Suspense #96. This later made him an easier target for groups like Hydra, so he faked his death leaving the public to believe that Steve Rogers was just a phony identity in Captain America #111-113. It’s later revealed that this flimsy fake out was sold thanks to the Space Phantom mind wiping everyone, see Avengers #107.

7. On Earth-616, Hank and Janet got married as well in Avengers #60. However, Janet filed for divorce years following the events of Avengers #213 when Hank struck her in anger. As of this writing (December, 2022) the couple are still divorced.

8. Captain Marvel fears that the events that led to his being bonded to his reality’s Rick Jones is doomed to repeat itself here. His fears are 100% valid. See Avengers Forever #11-12.

Topical References

• References to the present day being in the 20th century in this story should be considered topical. The Sliding Timescale has pushed the Modern Age forward enough to a point that it does not begin until after the start of the 21st century.