Marvel Team-Up #9
The Tomorrow War!
The people of Manhattan are in for a shock when Avengers Mansion begins to shake violently and briefly blink out of existence. Arriving on the scene is Iron Man, who tries to get into the mansion to see what is causing this situation. Unfortunately, there is some kind of barrier that is preventing him from entering the mansion. At that moment, Peter Parker is watching the situation unfold on television and debates going to help as Spider-Man. His mind is made up when his roommate, Harry Osborn, yells at him for having the television up too loud and slams the door. Soon, Spider-Man arrives at Avengers Mansion. Just as Iron Man is telling Spider-Man that he can handle this on his own when suddenly a portal opens through the barrier.
The pair jumps through and they end up falling into another dimension, a strange world where highly advanced ships dogfighting above them. When Iron Man flies up to try and stop the battle from continuing, one of the ships catches the armored Avenger in a tractor beam. The ship then lands and from it emerges Zarrko the Tomorrow Man. He tells the two heroes that they have a mutual enemy that they must stop and invites them aboard his ship. He then flies through the time barrier to the 23rd century. He explains that his era was invaded by their mutual foe due to the fact that his era is defenseless. He flies them over a facility where the Avengers are being held captive. Spider-Man and Iron Man then leap out to the ground below and engage the guards standing outside. They easily get past the guards and defenses until they are attacked by a massive cyborg. During the cyborgs opening salvo, Iron Man's power source is damaged. Spider-Man quickly incapacitates the cyborg while Iron Man reroutes his circuits to restore full power.
Meanwhile, outside, Zarrko lands his ship as the time storm that prevented him from entering has dissipated enough to let him enter the fortress himself. With his plan succeeding, Zarrko believes that he is on the cusp of ruling all time. Elsewhere in the facility, Spider-Man and Iron Man have found the room where the Avengers are being held in stasis. They also discover that their foe is none other than Kang the Conqueror. The evil time traveller blasts both heroes with a bolt of energy that knocks them out. However, before Kang can deal with them, Zarrko arrives hoping to take control of Kang's plot to take over the present.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Avengers (Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, Quicksilver), Zarrko the Tomorrow Man, Kang the Conqueror, Edwin Jarvis
Continuity Notes
The narrative of this story states that this story takes place between Amazing Spider-Man #119-120. This is impossible given that both those issues have Spider-Man fighting the Hulk in Canada. According to Official Index to the Marvel Universe #3 this story actually takes place before the events of Amazing Spider-Man #119.
The narrative also states that Zarrko the Tomorrow man was last seen in Thor #102. No such issue exists. They actually mean he last appeared in Journey into Mystery #102, the title that was later rennamed Thor with the original numbering.
As explained in Fantastic Four Annual #25, Kang is not physically here. Instead, he is operating this robotic version of himself remotely.
Zarrko states that the captured heroes came from the year 1973. This should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616.
