The Unspoken, Part 1

From the Stricken History of the Inhumans:

Long ago, while the Inhumans city of Attilan resided in the Tibetan Mountains, the kingdom was ruled by a man whose name has been erased from their history. This is the tale of how this came to pass.[1] He was a beloved ruler even by the Inhuman’s slave class, the Alpha Primitives. Moreso, due to the Unspoken’s incalculable power he was feared as well as respected among his people.

However, not everyone feared the king as they should have. This included his cousins, Black Bolt, Medusa, Gorgon, and Karnak. They have learned that their leader had secreted away the slave engine, a device that would allow them to enslave humanity and make them bow down to the Inhumans. The impetuous youth demand access to the device so they can make Attilan the center of the world. However, the Unspoken refuses to use it because of its incredible power, preferring his people to remain hidden from the rest of the world.

This disagreement leads to Black Bolt to issue a challenge of royal succession. Although the Unspoken has cosmic forces at his command, his powers fail him at a crucial moment allowing Black Bolt to defeat him. Now king, Black Bolt and his cousins take the Unspoken to the Himalayan Mountains. The former ruler of the Inhumans then refuses to divulge the location or the secrets of the Slave Engine. This results in a proclamation that all reference to the former king will be erased from Inhuman historical records and his name will never be spoken among his people. With that, Black Bolt says his name one last time, issuing a sonic blast that knocks the Unspoken into the chasm below to never be seen again.

The next morning, some Alpha Primitives that are still loyal to the deposed king find him and lead him off into the harsh terrain…..

Now

US Agent (John Walker) and Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff) of the Mighty Avengers have been recruited on a mission by GRAMPA to investigate a mysterious Inhuman that has appeared in China. This is of particular concern given that the Inhumans have declared war on the United States. Quicksilver in particular was recruited on this given his past experience with this secretive race.[2] Getting a good look at their target and recognizing him as the Unspoken, Pietro realizes that they are in grave danger and insists that they call in the Avengers, all of them.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Mighty Avengers — Hercules, Stature (Cassie Lang), the Vision (Jonas) and Amadeus Cho — are given a tour of their new headquarters, the Infinite Mansion, by their leader the Wasp (Hank Pym). This massive complex has accesses to everywhere in time and space. Jocasta, their robotic companion has been downloaded into multiple bodies all over this expanse to guide them to the proper doors as they need them. The massive structure also pays homage to the long history of the Avengers. As the team gets a sense of how expansive this pocket dimension is, Cassie spots the Scarlet Witch spying on them, and becomes enraged.[3]

Back in China, the situation is getting tense as China’s leading superhero team, the People’s Defense Force — Collective Man, Radioactive Man (Chen Lu), Princess of Clouds, Lady of Ten Suns, Scientific Beast, the Ninth Immortal, and Most Perfect Hero — have arrived to confront the Unspoken.[4] They order the Unspoken to leave the country immediately or face violence. The Unspoken then wipes them out in a single blast.[5] This convinces US Agent that they do need everyone they can get to deal with this threat.

Recurring Characters

Mighty Avengers (Wasp, Quicksilver, Hercules, Jocasta, US Agent, Stature, Vision, Amadeus Cho), Ban-Luck, “Scarlet Witch”, the Unspoken, Edwin Jarvis, People’s Defense Force (Collective Man, Radioactive Man, Scientific Beast, Lady of Ten Suns), Alpha Primitives, (in flashback) Inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Karnak, Gorgon)

Continuity Notes

1. This story makes it appear as though Attilan is located in the Himalayan Mountains during this flashback. However, per the Marvel Chronology Project, this story occurs before the Inhumans would have relocated there. As per What If? #30, Attilan was located in the middle of the ocean until fears of discovery prompted them to move the entire city to a more remote location. As of this writing (July, 2024) Marvel has yet to provide clarification. See below for more on this.

2. Quicksilver’s relationship to the Inhumans and their current cold war with the United States is quite complicated:

   • Quicksilver married into the Inhuman Royal Family in Fantastic Four #150 and lived among them for years.

   • The situation changed after his sister de-powered most of Earth’s mutants following House of M #1-8. In a misguided attempt to try and restore the mutant race, Pietro stole some Terrigen Crystals with disastrous results. The crystals ended up in the possession of the US government as seen in Son of M #1-6.

   • This made him a person non-grata with both Inhumans and mutants. The Inhuman Cold War will conclude in Silent War #1-6, while Pietro managed to walk back his missteps (somewhat) by claiming he had been replaced by a Skrull during, as seen in Mighty Avengers #24.

3. At the time of this story, the real Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) seemingly killed Cassie’s father Scott Lang (aka Ant-Man) in Avengers #500. What Cassie doesn’t know is that her future self pulled Scott forward in time to save his life, as we’ll see in Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #5. This, however, is not the real Scarlet Witch but Loki in disguise as we learned in Mighty Avengers #23.

4. US Agent mistakes the PDF with China Force, a previous national team that first appeared in Alpha Flight #64. That team was last seen in X-Force Annual #3.

5. US Agent quips that the Unspoken “Alpha Flighted them!” This is a reference to how the entity known as the Collective (Michael Pointer) decimated the Canadian heroes known as Alpha Flight in a similar fashion in New Avengers #16. That said, most of the PDF is killed here except Collective Man, Radioactive Man, Scientific Beast, and Lady of Ten Suns. As of this writing (July, 2024) the rest of the team is still considered among the deceased.

Topical References

• When talking about their new headquarters, Amadeus jokingly asks if there are Oompa-Loompas around. This is a reference to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory a 1964 children’s novel by Roald Dhal. The story is about a young boy winning a tour of a mystical candy factory owned by the eccentric Willy Wonka. Wonka made his popular candies with the help of Oompa-Loompas, diminutive mischief makers. This wouldn’t necessarily be a topical reference since the works of Dhal are considered classic children’s literature.

Where was Attilan located in this flashback?

As I said above, this story appears to suggest that Attilan was located in the Himalayan Mountains at the time of this flashback. However, as Black Bolt, Medusa, et al are depicted as young teenagers this seems to contradict What If? #30, which shows the city being moved sometime in the 1950s when Black Bolt and his crew were fully grown adults and he was leader of the Inhumans.

As of this writing (July, 2024), Marvel has yet to provide clarification for this apparent discrepancy.

To try and make sense of what’s going on here, one has to consider the sources telling these tales. The story in What If? #30 was told by the Watcher and given his characterization there isn’t a reason for me to think he would be getting facts wrong. The dude’s entire job is to observe Earth history.

The other thing to note is that this flashback is told from the perspective of excised Inhuman history. The narration opens by stating that this information has been stricken from all Inhuman records and that reading it and tells the reader to ignore it. Given the fact that this history is forbidden, one could also assume that it may not be entirely accurate or that the tale has been jaundiced because of its nature.

Still, the story merely refers to the Himalayans as being on the “inhospitable wastes ringing Attilan’s borders”. It is also important to note that we do not get much but the vaguest description of where the Unspoken gets exiled relative to Attilan. The time frame is also incredibly vague, all we can really tell is that Black Bolt and his cousins are all in their early teens. Since Inhumans are extremely long lived, this could be any point in history and we can’t say for certain how expansive Attilan’s borders are in the context of this story. We certainly do not see Attilan depicted in any visible distance from where the Unspoken is exiled.

It seems silly that the Inhumans would have their city in the Himalayans then move it to the Atlantic only for them to move it back to the Tibetan region in the 1950s. Particularly since moving their entire domain required the assistance of the Eternals back then. The distance between the Himalayas and the North Atlantic is about 10,719 km.

I think that simplest solution is that, whenever this happened, the Inhumans were in the North Atlantic and that the royals dumped their deposed ruler in the farthest possible place from their home. Particularly when you consider that they erased him from the historical records. Why would they exile the Unspoken and just dump him in their back yard if they wanted their people to forget all about him? I think it was either coincidence, hubris, or an assumption that the Unspoken was dead by the time the 50’s rolled around and the Inhumans relocated near to the spot where Black Bolt exiled the Unspoken. I think enough time would have passed where they either forgot or didn’t care to look for him and he likely decided to remain hidden and hence their paths had not crossed in all that time.