Time Out of Mind

This story continues from Avengers #393….

Having been exposed as a traitor to the Avengers, Iron Man has fled to Chronopolus, the temporal beachhead ruled by Kang the Conqueror.[1]

When Kang and Mantis come to see Iron Man, Tony tells them that he has been exposed. While Kang’s children believe that Stark’s usefulness has ended, Kang still has a use for him. The situation is dire and the coming conflict that was once years away is now only a few days. Kang needs to secure the temporal beach head as soon as possible if he is to win the coming war. Tony tells him that he can do that with the equipment he has stashed beneath the Works and promises to play his part until the end.

On present day Earth, Rachel Carpenter notices that there is a high priority alert coming in from the Avengers. When she asks PLATO if they should inform Cybermancer and Amanda Chaney, she gets no response from the artificial intelligence that runs the facility. Having come to think that the Works is haunted by ghosts, Rachel is unnerved by the silence and runs to find a place to hide.

While down below, Amanda Chaney has uncovered a secret sub-basement that she was not made aware of when she signed up as Force Works’ public relations manager. Here she discovers future technology being run by an artificial intelligence called VIRGIL that claims it was created many years into the future. She finds this hard to believe but moments later she is caught by Tony Stark who demands to know why she had to come down into the basement. Grabbing her arm hard enough to cause pain, Amanda tells him to let go. When he doesn’t, she claws at his face making him let go. She then flees deeper down the facility and seals herself in one of the rooms. There she is horrified to discover that Suzie Endo is somehow cryogenically frozen down here, something that should be impossible because Suzie Endo became Cybermancer, Force Works’ newest member.[2] Moments later, Iron Man bursts through the door and fatally shoots Amanda in the face with his repulsor rays, killing her instantly.[3] Tony then orders VIRGIL to activate the Siege Perilous protocol and uplink with the satellite in orbit.[4] Pleased that his master plan is underway, Iron Man heads back upstairs.

A few hundred miles away, US Agent, Black Widow and Jim Rhodes are racing to the Works in the Works Wagon. Along the way, they are contacted by Hawkeye who left them after their battle with Deadhunt 9000 in the desert.[5] Hawkeye tells them that he joined back up with the Avengers to prove that he wasn’t responsible for the murders of Marilla and Yellowjacket. More shockingly, they discovered that Iron Man was the real killer. When the truth was exposed, Tony blasted Janet Van Dyne with a full power repulsor blast while escaping, leaving Jan in critical condition.[6] Realizing that Tony Stark has finally gone over the deep end, Jim Rhodes shifts into his Eidolon Warwear and speeds off to the Works ahead of US Agent and the Black Widow.

The rest of Force Works — the Scarlet Witch, Spider-Woman, Moonraker, and technician Fisher Todd — have been stranded in Vietnam. After a fight with Apocryphus and his armies, they have discovered that Moonraker is not who he claimed to be all these months. In fact, everything they remember about him, especially Spider-Woman’s romance, has been one big lie. Moonraker is not Slade Trueman as they once believed by Gustav Brand, once known as Libra of the Zodiac crime cartel. After his death, his spirit was summoned by the Priests of Pama when it was learned that Mantis — the Celestial Madonna — had turned from her chosen path and became a consort to Kang the Conqueror. In order to try and stop the coming time war, the Priests implanted Gustav’s soul into the body of his counterpart from another reality and planted him among Force Works so he could warn them when the time had come. As a side effect of this process, details regarding Moonraker’s past in this alternate reality were carried over such as his long time membership in Force Works and his romance with Spider-Woman.[7] The Scarlet Witch wonders if the warning is too late since the entire nation of Vietnam was removed from reality. Moonrake says that this is only the beginning and that there still might be a chance to stop it if they act fast enough.

That’s when Fisher returns from the forest with a young boy who has been mutated into a bat like creature during their battle with Apocryphus. Moonriker recognizes this transformation and explains that Kang’s chronographic attacks will cause many people to hyper-evolve and mutate, making them ideal candidates in Kang’s war. That’s when Moonriker finds a temporal activator that can bring them back home. In order to figure out their geography, Gustav asks Spider-Woman for their data-log. She does so but very coldly and when Brandt tries to apologize for everything that happened, she tells him save it for someone who wants to listen and storms off. When Wanda asks what they should do about the mutated child, Moonraker tells her to leave him here as he should be reverted back to normal once they restore Vietnam to normal.

Back at the Works, Iron Man and Cybermancer are looking for Rachel Carpenter in order to silence her as well. Unfortunately, the little girl has hidden herself far too well and they can’t find a trace of her. That’s when Cybermancer detects an energy flare in the Chaos Vault. Iron Man is annoyed because he knows who this is and he couldn’t come at a worse time. He is referring to Century, who has just returned to Earth after a mission in space to uncover the truth about his past.[8] When the alien arrives he finds the lack of a greeting from the team or PLATO disturbing. That’s when Iron Man and Cybermancer arrive on the scene. Tony tries to poison Century’s mind by telling him a version of the recent killings, telling the alien that he has been framed and now the Avengers are trying to kill him.

That’s when Jim Rhodes appears with Rachel and calls out Tony for lying. He tells Century not to listen to Tony as he is the real killer. Rachel confirms this by telling Century that he Iron Man murdered Amanda Chaney in the basement. Century believes Jim and Rachel over Iron Man and attacks the betrayer. However, Iron Man and Cybermancer are too much for him to fight alone and Jim convinces Century to teleport Rachel to safety. Jim then tries to reason with Tony, tries to get him to surrender and face justice for his crimes. When Iron Man refuses to do so he scoffs at Jim being unable to do anything since losing his War Machine armor.[9] Jim then shows Tony how wrong he is by willing his Eidolon Warwear to mesh around him.

… This story continues in War Machine #22.

Recurring Characters

Force Works (Scarlet Witch, US Agent, Spider-Woman, Century, “Moonraker”), War Machine, “Kang”, “Mantis”, Iron Man, Anachronauts (“Malachi”, “Tobias”, “Neut”, “Adult Luna”), VIRGIL (voice only), Suzie Endo, Avengers (Black Widow, Giant-Man, Wasp, Crystal), Edwin Jarvis

Continuity Notes

1. I’m going to get this all out of the way right now: The Crossing presents a tale where Iron Man has apparently been a sleeper agent for Kang the Conqueror dating back to the early days of the Avengers. Kang, is allegedly trying to take over and alter the present day in preparation for some temporal war against an unknown foe. This is all later exposed as one big hoax created by Immortus, the future version of Kang, as part of a grand scheme to manipulate the Avengers destiny. Iron Man was never a sleeper agent, he was just brainwashed into thinking he was. “Kang” is really Immortus in disguise. Many of the other characters in this story are also revealed to be Space Phantoms in disguise to sell the deception. These Space Phantoms are posing as Mantis, Malach, Tobia, Neut, the adult Luna Maximoff, and Moonraker. This is all revealed in Avengers Forever #8.

2. The Suzie Endo that is Cybermancer is actually from an alternate reality who has taken the place of her counterpart in this reality. She Suzie-616’s place in Force Works #17. The truth about her is revealed in issues #21-22. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #3 identifies this timeline as Reality-9528.

3. As of this writing (November, 2022) Amanda Chaney is still considered among the deceased. In Avengers Annual 2001 it is later determined that Tony wasn’t criminally responsible for the Amanda’s death as he was under the influence of “Kang” at the time.

4. This satellite is owned by Starcore, it was commissioned by the government who hired Stark Enterprises to build it as we saw in Iron Man #319.

5. The four heroes fought Deadhunt 9000 and his army while hiding out in Calexico. See War Machine #21.

6. Marilla and Yellowjacket were both murdered in Avengers: The Crossing #1. Iron Man tried to frame Hawkeye for the killings, as seen in Force Works #16. Tony was the real killer as revealed in Iron Man #323. This led to Iron Man fighting the Avengers and the Wasp getting injured in Avengers #393. Janet will recover, but be transformed into an insectile form, as we’ll see in Avengers #394.

7. While the whole Moonraker/Gustav Brandt backstory is a big lie created by Immortus (per Avengers Forever #8, remember), it does have some basis of truth to help sell the story:

   • The Priests of Pama did train the real Mantis to become the Celestial Madonna. She was the father of Libra of the Zodiac cartel. Kang went after her in the past so he could sire the Celestial Massiah but was ultimately thwarted by the Avengers. See Avengers #123, 129-135 and Giant-Size Avengers #2-4.

   • The real Gustav Brandt seemingly died when the Zodiac crime cartel was seemingly murdered by Life Model Decoy replacements in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #28. The real Gustav Brandt managed to cheat death. He’ll turn up alive again in Avengers Forever #2. At the time he will confirm that Moonraker was an impostor.

   • The idea of an alternate reality counterpart of a deceased character who looks different and has a different name wasn’t so outlandish an idea as, at the time of this event, the Avengers had encountered and recruited Phil Javert. Javert the Earth-921 counterpart to Jacques Duquesne, Earth-616’s Swordsman. They are the same man despite having different names and appearances. See Avengers #343-372.

8. When Century first arrived on Earth in Force Works #1 he had no memory of his past. He was given the opportunity to uncover the truth in issue #15 after liberating the slaves of the alien known as the Broker. Century uncovered the mysteries of his past in Century: Distant Sons #1.

9. As far as Tony knew, Jim lost his War Machine armor during a time travel adventure in War Machine #15-17. In issue #18, Jim had obtained the Eidolon Warwear from an alien source, but had been keeping this a secret from most everyone, hence why Stark had no clue about it.

The Crossing Reading Order

Avengers #390, Iron Man #319, Avengers: The Crossing #1, Force Works #16, Iron Man #320, Avengers #391, Iron Man #321, Force Works #17, Avengers #392, War Machine #20, Iron Man #322, Force Works #18, War Machine #21, Iron Man #323, Avengers #393, Force Works #19, War Machine #22, Iron Man #324, Force Works #20, War Machine #23, Avengers #394, Avengers: Timeslide #1, Iron Man #325, Avengers #395, Age of Innocence: The Rebirth of Iron Man #1