Quasar #13
Journey into Mystery Part One: The Earth You Have Reached…
Quasar has come to the grave site of Captain Marvel, the previous guardian of the universe to pay his respects.[1] He has also hoped to gain some kind of insight since Mar-Vell was able to defeat the threat of Thanos before his own death.[2] Unfortunately, the visit only reinforces Wendell’s feelings of self-pity and believe that he doesn’t have what it takes to be the defender of the universe. That’s when Quasar receives a signal from the energy barrier he placed around the Earth to warn him if any alien ships that might pass through.
The crew of this ship are happy to see the planet Earth, but when they try to contact people on the ground, they cannot pick up a signal. The ship goes down hard and Quasar uses his Quantum Bands to make for a softer landing. Once the ship is on the ground, its crew — former members of the Squadron Supreme — emerge from the ship. Thinking this is their own world, they are disorientated by their surroundings. Desperate to see his wife and children, the Whizzer attacks Quasar but he easily fends him off. The other Ex-Squadron members then start attacking. During the fight, Moonglow uses her magical power to scan the area and quickly determines that they are not on their own Earth, but a parallel universe. Discovering that they are on the Avengers world, the Squadron explains that they must have ended up here after saving their own universe from being swallowed up by the Nth Man.[3]
That’s when the Eternal named Makkari arrives after receiving a mental call for help. Quasar assures him that the danger is passed. When the Squadron’s leader, Hyperion, asks Quasar if the Avengers can help, Wendell explains that the team doesn’t usually dabble in dimensional travel.[4] However, he offers to help in anyway that he can but first, they all agree to get the Squadron’s ship someplace safe. As Makkari and Hyperion board the ship, they both exchange suspicious glances at one another.[5] Quasar and Doctor Spectrum then pool their powers together to help get the ship back into the air.
At that same moment, in New York City, a homeless man suddenly screams in agony, having sensed the arrival of the Squadron Supreme. When someone asks the bum if he is okay, he responds by saying that he hasn’t felt more like himself in years.[6]
Meanwhile, Quasar has brought the Squadron to his former place of employment, Project PEGASUS.[7] Head administrator Myron Wilburn agrees to put up the other-dimensional heroes since they have the room now that the Vault has taken away all of their super-villain prisoners. After the Squadron is settled in, Quasar heads off to find a way to get them back home. However, Makkari decides to stay behind because he has something to discuss with Hyperion.
Quasar returns to his business in the Four Freedoms Palaza, where he quickly retreats to his private office. There, he tries to call Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four but he is not home. He then decides to try and see if Eon — who lives in a pocket dimension behind Wendell’s bookshelf — if he could bring the Squadron back home. Eon says he could, but cannot as doing so would violate territorial agreements with other cosmic entities. As Wendell leaves, he asks Eon to pass an apology on to his father for their argument the other day.[8] Eon promises to do so, but also alerts Quasar of a strange psychic disturbance in the area.
At that moment, the mysterious homeless man arrives at a Brooklyn junk yard and uses telekinetic power to uncover an alien ship buried under tons of wrecked cars.
Meanwhile, Quasar calls Project PEGASUS to talk to Hyperion, only to learn that he and Makkari left on a fact finding mission. None of the other Squadron members are reachable because they are on a tour of the facility. Wendell then decides to use this downtime to take a nap. However, he is woken up a short time later by an alarm in his Quantum Bands. Changing into Quasar, he heads out and follows the signal and finds the homeless man’s alien ship as it is taking off. On approach, he senses someone trying to telepathically take control of his mind and wills his Quantum Bands to create a device to block them out of his thoughts.[9]
As he continues his approach he is attacked by the Shape and Haywire of the Ex-Squadron Supreme. Quasar easily defeats the two and discover that they were merely a distraction to allow the one controlling their mind to leave the planet and escape into hyperspace with the rest of the Squadron. Quasar races the pair back to Project PEGASUS just as Makkari and Hyperion are returning from their private mission.[10] Hyperion tries to question Haywire and learn who took control of the rest of the team, but he refuses to say. Hyperion then pleads with Quasar to help him save his teammates.
Recurring Characters
Quasar, Squadron Supreme (Hyperion, Power Princess, Doctor Spectrum, Whizzer, Skylark, Moonglow, Shape, Haywire), Makkari, Myron Wilburn, Kayla Ballentine, “H.D. Steckley”, Ken Tanaka, Eon
Continuity Notes
Captain Marvel died of cancer in Marvel Graphic Novel #1.
Before his death, Mar-Vell was able to defeat the threat that Eon chose him to stop, that of Thanos, as seen in Captain Marvel #25-33 and Avengers #125. Although Quasar believes Thanos to be deceased here, the Mad Titan had actually just been resurrected as seen in Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #34, a fact that nobody on Earth knows about just yet.
Lots of stuff going on with the Squadron Supreme here. The details:
The Squadron hale from a parallel universe. Per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005 #1, it has been designated as Reality-712.
They are referring to themselves as the “Ex-Squadron Supreme” here as the group technically disbanded after members grossly abused their Utopia Program, leading to its failure. See Squadron Supreme #1-12.
The group got back together to fight the Nth Man in Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe #1.
Nth Man, aka Thomas Lightner ended up in the Squadron’s world after being shunted to that reality after being exposed to the Nth Projector in Marvel Two-In-One #58.
Hyperion recognizes the Earth-616 universe as the Squadron has had a number of encounters with this world’s Avengers. The groups first met in Avengers #85.
The group will end up slumming it on Earth-616 until they are returned home in Avengers Annual 1998.
Quasar explains that the Avengers are also in the midst of building a brand new headquarters. Avengers Mansion was sunk into the ocean after Doctor Doom sunk Hydrobase in Avengers #311. With their old headquarters unsalvageable, a new headquarters is being built at the site of the original in New York City. It will finally open in Avengers #329.
The reason for Makkari and Hyperion’s suspicious glares is the fact that they both are Eternals. Something that won’t be revealed until Quasar #16.
Next issue we learn that this homeless man is actually the Overmind. He one went to the Squadron’s Earth and enslaved the group, plunging their world into war before he was stopped by the Defenders. During that battle, the Overmind’s body was taken control by the disembodied minds of seven telepaths. See Defenders #112-115. The now peaceful Overmind joined the Defenders for a time until he left the group and made them forget he was ever a member as seen in Marvel Comics Presents #40.
Quasar worked for PEGASUS from Marvel Two-In-One #54 until Marvel Team-Up Annual #4.
What Eon doesn’t tell Quasar is that his father suffered a lethal brain hemorrhaged last issue. As we’ll discover in Quasar #14, Eon ends up using his power to re-animate Gilbert’s corpse. Quasar will remain oblivious to this due to his strained relationship with his father until he learns the truth in issue #20. Eon decided to reanimate Gilbert Vaughn so Wendell wouldn’t have to deal with the loss of his father on top of everything else. This decision is not received very well when the truth comes out. It’s later revealed in Quasar #24, that Maelstrom (the threat Quasar has been selected to stop) was responsible for his father’s stroke.
Quasar came up with this technique after his encounter with MODAM in Quasar #9.
Here, Hyperion is intentionally drawn without the goggles he was wearing at the start of this issue. Hyperion damaged his vision fighting an evil version of himself in Squadron Supreme #8. It’s (again) explained in issue #16 that Makkari taught Hyperion how to use his abilities as an Eternal to repair the damage done to his eyes.