Captain America Annual #7
The Last Enchantment
After months of inactivity at the Project PEGASUS facility, the Cosmic Cube shutters to life. This is detected in a far away galaxy by two alien beings who agree something must be done. On Earth, the Aquarian stops his pilgrimage across America as he detects the Cube needs his assistance. While at the headquarters of Advanced Idea Mechanics, the scientists detect that the Cube has reactivated and launch a full scale assault on the Project facility.[1] The PEGASUS staff fear that their defenses will not be enough to fend off AIM and call the Avengers for help.
However, the only Avenger on duty is Captain America. After leaving a message for his teammates, he takes a Quinjet out to the Project PEGASUS facility.[2] Arriving at the scene, he sees the facility is under siege by the forces of AIM, but spots Aquarian leaving the facility with the Cosmic Cube in hand. Captain America confronts Aquarian, who reveals that he is his old friend Wundarr, much to Cap’s surprise.[3] Aquarian assures Captain America that he only wants to keep the Cube safe, by Cap refuses to let him leave with the powerful artifact. Unfortunately, when the Avenger tries to stop him, Aquarian’s null-field negates all of his attacks. Eventually, the Captain stops Aquarian with an Aikido hold forcing him to finally drop the Cosmic Cube.
This is just as the AIM attack ships are doing a fly by and they manage to snatch up the weapon in a tractor beam. Agreeing to work together, Captain America and Aquarian board the Avengers Quinjet and follows AIM back to their secret headquarters. When the rogue scientists arrive, they quickly hide the Cube away in the lower levels of the facility and send their shock-troops to deal with the two two intruders.
While the battle rages overhead, the head scientists of AIM meet with their leader, Bernard Worrel. The most senior member of the group he explains to them the importance of the Cosmic Cube by telling of its creation. He starts by telling them that he joined up with AIM with his mentor, Doctor George Clinton, back when the organization’s intentions were to create a technological utopia on Earth. Their first creation was transforming a man into the living computer known as the Mental Organism Designed Only for Computer, or MODOC for short. They used MODOC to punch a hole in the fabric of reality to create a grey hole.[4] Succeeding in doing a strange new form of energy came out of it and they were able to contain it in a receptacle that came to be known as the Cosmic Cube.
Unfortunately, the original AIM suffered a series of setbacks after making this discovery. First, the Cosmic Cube was usurped by the revived Nazi war criminal, the Red Skull, who lost it in battle with Captain America.[5] Not longer after this, MODOC had gone made due to the strain of creating the cube. Renaming himself MODOK — the K standing for killing — he slaughtered the founding members of AIM and took over the organization. Worrel and Clinton managed to survive by posing as lower ranking members of the organization to bide their time and take control of the organization back. In the meantime, the Cosmic Cube was recovered by the Red Skull, only for MODOK to seemingly destroy it before it could be come a threat to him.[6]
However, the Cube survived and its location was only known to one lone individual, Rick Jones. When the mad Titan known as Thanos sought out the Cosmic Cube, he used its power to become a god until he was stopped by Captain Marvel and the Cube was believed to have been destroyed again.[7] Once again, the Cube endured and it exchanged hands until it fell into the possession of Captain America, who turned it over to Project PEGASUS for examination. Tragically, Bernard’s mentor was kidnapped by Arnim Zola, the Red Skull, and the Hate-Monger who tried to use George’s knowledge to create a new Cosmic Cube. When this failed, Clinton was killed.[8] Finishing his story, Bernard restrains the other scientists because he wants to be the only one to wield the power of the Cosmic Cube.
Back upstairs, Captain America and Aquarian have defeated the AIM shock troops and head to the lowers levels. However, they are too late to stop Worrel from channeling the power of the Cube. Worse, the device is has begun to change shape, causing Aquarian a great deal of distress. Ignoring the alien’s warnings to stop using the Cube, Bernard uses its power to reshape reality into the technological utopia he always wished to achieve. Trying to kill Captain America with his god-like powers, Bernard is thwarted by Aquarian’s null-field until Worrel uses the Cube to teleport the alien away to the Himalayan Mountains.
Even without Aquarian’s protection, Captain America refuses to surrender even when Bernard uses the Cube to make his bones disappear or transforming his shield into a crab monster. Captain America presses on, telling Bernard that he cannot master the power of the Cube because his actions are governed by fear. Being unable to destroy Captain America, Bernard gives into this fear and his paradise transforms into a nightmare world fueled by his subconscious mind. Worse, the Cube continues changing shape, making its power harder to control. As Captain America tries to figure out what to do next, one of the alien beings who has been monitoring things has arrived on Earth and rescues Aquarian from the Himalayan Mountains.
This alien entity turns out to be the Shaper of Worlds and when he arrives at the scene of the battle he plucks away the shapeshifting Cosmic Cube. He quickly burns away all the fear and hate that have tainted the device causing it to resume its normal shape. The Shaper then uses his vast cosmic powers to restore reality to normal. Captain America, Aquarian and Worrel are then shocked when the Shaper tells them that the Cosmic Cube is actually a living being and that it is about to hatch from its current form after years of incubation.
The Shaper of Worlds then tells them that this Cosmic Cube is not the first. Millennia earlier the Skrull Empire had reached a level of technological sophistication to create a Cosmic Cube of their own. The emperor of that time then used the power of the Skrullian Cube to dominate his section of the universe. However, when the Cube reach maturation, all it knew was violence and it used its power to decimate the Skrull empire, setting back its development for centuries. The Shaper then reveals that he was that Cosmic Cube. He then goes on to explain that the Kree empire then tried to create their own Cosmic Cube. In the process of doing so they created the Supreme Intelligence. Seeing the danger posed by a Cosmic Cube, the Supreme Intelligence steered his people away from inventing one. The Intelligence became aware of the Cube that was created on Earth and kept tabs on it. During the recent Kree/Skrull War, the Supreme Intelligence implanted knowledge of the Cosmic Cube’s location into the mind of Rick Jones.[8] It was after the incident with Thanos that the Supreme Intelligence reached out to the Shaper of Worlds as the Earth Cube’s gestation period was reaching its crucial point, thus his involvement in today’s affairs.
With the Cosmic Cube now sedated, the Shaper of Worlds asks Captain America to touch it so that it can learn what hope is. With that, the Shaper of Worlds teleports away so it can oversee the Cosmic Cube’s birth into a sentient being. Delighted that he assisted in a “child birth”, Captain America is confident that the Cube’s childhood is going to be an interesting one.[10]
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Kubik, Shaper of Worlds, Aquarian, AIM, Anson Harkov, Margaret Mayfair, Myron Wilburn
Continuity Notes
In this story, the AIM scientists are depicted in blue “bee keeper” outfits and are shown wearing yellow ones in the flashbacks. Back in Ms. Marvel #7, AIM had divided into two factions. One group was loyal to MODOK, which retained their trademark yellow uniforms. The splinter group adopted blue versions of these uniforms. The division between the two group came to an end shortly after a war between the two in Incredible Hulk #289.
Here, Captain America recounts how he was briefly head of security at Project PEGASUS. This was in Marvel Two-In-One #43-44. It was during this period that he recovered the Cosmic Cube and turned it over to the Project.
Cap is unable to recognize Wundarr because how much he changed. When he first arrived on Earth in Fear #17, he had the mind of a child. After Captain America’s encounter with him, the Project PEGASUS staff exposed him to the power of the Cube, transforming him into the Aquarian, as seen in Marvel Two-In-One #58.
It’s later revealed in Fantastic Four #319 that the creation of Cosmic Cubes were due to the machinations of an extradimensional race called the Beyonders. They would foster the creation of Cosmic Cubes by allowing the energies needed to power them to cross over into the Earth dimension. New Avengers (vol. 3) #33, reveals that the Beyonders schemes were multiversal in scale.
Captain America’s first battle with a Cosmic Cube powered Red Skull happened in Tales of Suspense #79-81.
The Red Skull’s second go around with the Cosmic Cube was chronicled in Tales of Suspense #115-119.
The who Thanos/Cosmic Cube saga was covered in Captain Marvel #27-33.
The Red Skull’s attempt to create a new Cosmic Cube was chronicled in Super-Villain Team-Up #17. It was used to try and give the Hate-Monger — aka Adolf Hitler — the power to shape reality. However, the second Cube was flawed and Hitler soon found his mind trapped inside for a time. This Hitler powered Cube would ultimately get destroyed following the events of Captain America #445-448.
The Kree/Skrull War had been going on for centuries, as detailed in Avengers #133-134. The most recent conflict that the shaper is referring to happened in Avengers #89-97.
When the Cosmic Cube is seen again in Defenders #150, it has taken on the form of Captain America. Later, in Avengers #289-290, it has taken on a unique form and begins calling itself Kubik.
