Quasar #20
Cosmos in Collision Part Two
Prologue II:
The Recent Past
After a meeting with Kronos, disembodied entity continues his search across the universe, on a quest to obtain ultimate power.[1] His quest leads him Anomaly, the personification of the concept. It explains that there are many abstract being such as itself that govern the laws of the universe.
However, while Anomaly has existed as long as the universe, it did not take part in its creation. After thanking Anomaly for the information, the mysterious entity suddenly turns on it in an attempt to kill the cosmic entity and take its place as the avatar for anomalies.[2]
The Stalking Horse:
Now
A number of refugees from the Stranger’s prison world have returned to Earth. Greeted by Quasar, they attack the hero on orders from the Presence.[3] The Russian mutate has been led to believe that Quasar’s master, Eon, is a threat to all life in the universe. With Quasar defeated by Jack of Hearts, the Presence orders Jack to kill him while they have the chance. Jack isn’t willing to take a life and so the Presence and his lover, Starlight, use their atomic powers to shatter Quasar’s protective barrier. While Starlight restrains Jack, the Presence then uses his power to seemingly atomize Quasar. This enrages Jack who tries to fight back against his two companions. Unfortunately, the Presence shatters Jack’s containment suit causing the zero energies in his body to overload, causing him to explode.[4]
However, Quasar survived the attempt on his life by quantum jumping to safety at the last moment. Observing from afar, he sees how the Presence and Starlight seemingly killed Jack and have headed to Earth to attack Eon, leaving their fellow refugees stranded in orbit in their life support pods. Putting the lives of others ahead of Eon, Quasar rescues the stranded refugees and brings them to Earth, hoping he hasn’t signed Eon’s death warrant as a result. Quasar drops the refugees in the middle of Siberia because he doesn’t know if any of them are a threat to life on Earth.[5] Isaac Christians — the Gargoyle — speaks on everyone’s behalf, but Quasar has to leave when he receives a distress signal from Eon.
Racing back to the United States, Quasar uses his Avengers ID card to call Peggy Carter to connect him to the Fantastic Four. This is because Quasar has Eon stashed in a pocket dimension hidden behind his bookshelf at his security consultant firm that operates out of the Four Freedoms Plaza.
At that moment, Quasar’s co-worker Ken Tanaka is burning the midnight oil when the Presence and Starlight blast their way in through the window. Ken survives the blast but is seriously injured. As Quasar gets updates from Eon as he speeds to stop the Presence, cursing himself for not coming up with a contingency plan to prevent something like this from happening.
Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four come down from their headquarters to Quasar’s office and engage Starlight in battle.[6] That’s when Quasar arrives and tells Mister Fantastic that he’ll explain everything later and races to the pocket dimension where Eon is hiding out. He is surprised to see that Eon has expanded his size so that his form completely fills the dimension. He finds the Presence blasting his way through Eon’s bio-matter in an attempt to hit something vital and kill the cosmic being. Quasar quickly contains the Presence in an energy bubble long enough for Eon to hand over his heart which can exist outside his body for a little over 3 minutes. Quasar then flies back through the dimensional portal with the Presence hot on his heels.
Once on the other side, Quasar quickly hands off Eon’s heart to the Thing to hide while he lures the Presence outside the Four Freedoms Plaza. Using a decoy to fool his foe, Quasar flies out beyond Earth’s atmosphere where he can safely quantum jump the Presence into deep space where he will no longer be a threat.[7] He then teleports back to Earth just as the Fantastic Four have finished wrapping up Starlight. Quasar has a lot to answer for as a tenant to the Fantastic Four, but he points out that his lease agreement doesn’t say anything about having dimensional portals on property. He then heads into the pocket dimension to return Eon’s heart.
Later that evening, after getting Ken to a hospital, Quasar returns home and is shocked to discover Kayla seeking comfort from Makkari.[8] This deeply upsets Quasar because he has feelings for her. He then flies back to his father’s home in Fairfield, Connecticut. There he finds his father collapsed on the floor, dead. That’s when Eon begins talking through his father and reveals that Gilbert Vaughn had been dead several weeks earlier and that Eon had been keeping his body alive all this time because he didn’t want to see Quasar upset over the loss of his father.[9] Unfortunately, during the battle with the Presence, Eon could no longer protect himself and sustain Gilbert’s body at the same time. All of this deeply upsets Wendell who finds that Eon made an obscene mockary of his father and quits his job as protector of the universe. Little does Quasar know that the entity trying to obtain unlimited power is observing him and is pleased that he has succeeded in driving a wedge between Quasar and Eon. He gloats over the fact that by the time Quasar realizes the truth, it will be far too late to stop him.
Recurring Characters
Quasar, the Presence, Starlight, Ken Tanaka, Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), Eon, Makkari, Kayla Ballentine, Gilbert Vaughn (corpse), Anomaly, Maelstrom (unidentified), Jack of Hearts, Fusion, Woodgod, Diamondhead, Weird Sisters (Beauty, Truth, Charm, all unidentified), Dragonfly
Continuity Notes
This unnamed entity is revealed to be Maelstrom in Quasar #21. He was last seen in Avengers #247-250 where he was forced to hyper-expand himself.
This is not the death of Anomaly as it is an abstract being incapable of physical death in the manner in which Maelstrom dispatches it here. All he succeeded in doing was destroying its current Manifestation Body. Anomaly is seen alive and well again in Quasar #37.
The Presence and the other refugees escaped the Stranger’s world following the events of Quasar #13-16. It’s later revealed in Quasar #23 that they were tricked by Maelstrom into thinking that Eon was a threat to all existence.
This is not the end of Jack of Hearts, he will be recovered and revived by Moondragon in Quasar #27.
The escapees of the Stranger’s world were among those seen captured in Quasar #13-16. They escaped to Earth last issue. They are:
The Gargoyle, aka Isaac Christians, who was last seen in Solo Avengers #16, 18, 20, helping Moondragon obtain a new body and her cousin Sundragon to master her powers. How he ended up on the Stranger’s prison planet is never explained. He’ll turn up again in Hellstorm: Prince of Lies #2.
Diamondhead: A recurring foe of Nova, he later joined up with the hero to defend the planet Xandar from invaders. See Nova #3, 6-8, 10, 22-25, Fantastic Four #206-209, and ROM #24. Presumably, he was captured not long after the death of the Champions at the hands of Nebula in Avengers #260. He will pop up again in Darkhawk #26.
Dragonfly: A former member of Count Nefaria’s Ani-Men, she was last active in X-Men #94-95 and held in captivity until she escaped in X-Men #101, and subsequently captured. She’ll appear again in Iron Man Annual #12.
Woodgod: Created in a lab, this human/animal hybrid first appeared in Marvel Premiere #31. After subsequent adventures with the Hulk in Marvel Team-Up #53-55, and Incredible Hulk #251-253 and 256, he was apparently captured by the Stranger. Woodgod will go on to appear in Marvel Comics Presents #76.
Fusion: Was only previously seen in Amazing Spider-Man #208 before they wound up on the Stranger’s world. They will not be seen again after this issue, as of this writing (April, 2022).
The Weird Sisters make their first appearance here, although they go unnamed here. Their origins and how and why they ended up on the Stranger’s prison world is never fully explained. They will be recruited by Maelstrom against Quasar in Quasar #21-25.
Here, Mister Fantastic recognizes Starlight as the second Red Guardian. He’s not entirely accurate. Just like Captain America, the identity of Red Guardian has been passed on to many other individuals over the years. The facts:
The earliest known Red Guardian (as of this writing) was Aleksey Lebedev, who was active during World War II as seen in Namor the Sub-Mariner Annual #1.
What Reed probably means is that Starlight is the second contemporary Red Guardian. The first Modern Age Red Guardian was Alexi Shostakov who first appeared in Avengers #43 and was believed to have died in the following issue. He did not, and will turn up again in Daredevil (vol. 2) #64.
During the time Alexi was believed to be dead, the Russian government enlisted Tania Belinskaya to be the second contemporary Red Guardian starting in Defenders #35. She was transformed into an nuclear being by the Presence in Defenders #65.
At the time of this story, Tania had been succeeded by Josef Petkus who took on the Red Guardian identity in Captain America #352.
The Presence will be stranded in space for some time, as seen in Quasar #45-46. He will return to Earth in Quasar #45.
It’s later revealed in Quasar #26 that Moondragon — who sees Quasar as her ideal mate — has been using her mental powers to force Kayla and Makkari into a romance. It doesn’t work.
Quasar’s dad Gilbert suffered a fatal brain hemorrhage back in Quasar #12. It’s later revealed in issue #22 reveals that Maelstrom inflicted this injury to drive a wedge between Quasar and Eon.