Cosmos in Collision Part Four

Prologue IV:

The Recent Past

A disembodied wraith, Maelstrom has been attempting to obtain ultimate power in order to collapse the entire universe on behalf of his master, Oblivion. Told that Eon would be the key to this ultimate power, Maelstrom has been scanning the universe to achieve these goals.

He becomes aware of the Watchers, an alien race that has tasked themselves with recording all history. Seeing them as a threat to their plans, he summons Deathurge to assist him in dealing with the Watchers. Deathurge points out that even when the Watchers become aware of his existence they have sworn an oath of non-interference.[1] Still, any recording of his activities could be found by others, so he comes up with an oblivion plague to kill the Watchers off.

Heading to Earth, Maelstrom witnesses the ship carrying the Squadron Supreme leaving the planet. Detecting that they are anomalous entities of power he decides to follow them as they might lead him somewhere useful.[2]

A Long Day’s Journey into Death:

The Present

Quasar, aka Wendell Vaughn, had been lured into a trap set out by Maelstrom, who had been posing as the wealthy Malcolm Stromberg. The villain then amputated Quasar’s hands at the wrist so he could take the Quantum Bands away from the hero to use again Eon. Strung up on a wall, Quasar is kept alive by Maelstrom’s ability to affect kinetic energy and using it to prevent Wendell from bleeding out. Helpless and clinging to life, Quasar chastises himself for failing to stop the cosmic threat he had been charged with stopping. He is then visited by Deathurge, who is pleased to see Quasar in his current state. He reminds Wendell of their last encounter, who Deathurge promised that they next time they met, Quasar would be begging for his own death.[3] Wendell is ready to give up and asks Deathurge to take his life, but the emissary of death refuses, taking perverse pleasure of Wendell’s prolonged suffering. When Deathurge then leaves, Quasar screams at him to come back. Instead, Quasar is visited by the spirit of Captain Marvel, the previous guardian of the universe.[4] Mar-Vell questions why his successor feels so little about himself.

Elsewhere in the mansion, Maelstrom and his minions the Weird Sisters — Charm, Beauty, and Truth — examine the Quantum Bands but have been unsuccessful at removing them from Quasar’s amputated wrists. Maelstrom concludes that the bands can only be removed when Vaughn finally dies. Deciding that he wants to keep Quasar alive for the time being, they instead pool their powers together and channel them through the Quantum Bands so they can pinpoint Eon’s location.

Back in the dining hall, the spirit of Captain Marvel explains that he has come on behalf of Eon. Eon wants to apologize for reanimating Wendell’s father Gilbert instead of telling him that he had died. Eon did this because he knew how close Wendell was to his father and wanted to spare him the hurt of losing a loved one.[5] Eon now knows this is wrong and now apologizes. Quasar accepts this apology, but can’t forgive himself for failing at his job. He points out how Mar-Vell was able to stop the threat of Thanos when he was a guardian of the universe.[6] Mar-Vell points out that despite this, Thanos now lives again and is hatching new schemes.[7] On top of that, he didn’t die a heroes death, he died in bed as his body betrayed him with cancer. He points out to Wendell that it’s not about succeeding or failing in ones appointed task, it is about trying to make a difference. He tried to be the best protector he could be and so has Wendell, and Eon knows it. With his time up, Captain Marvel hugs his brother-in-arms before fading away back into the afterlife.

Meanwhile, Quasar’s friends Kayla Ballentine, Ken Tanaka, and H.D. Steckley are being held prisoner in the cellar. As they try to figure out how to get out, Steckley finally removes her disguise, revealing herself to be Moondragon. She explains that she first met Quasar through their mutual association with the Avengers. As she was once a contender for becoming the Celestial Madonna, Moondragon found herself attracted to Quasar due to his status as guardian of the universe, much in the same way she was attracted to the late Captain Marvel. She made it her goal to become Quasar’s lover as she saw him as the ideal mate. When she learned about Wendel Vaughn’s security consultant start up, she came up with the H.D. Steckley identity to get close to him. In fact, she used her mental powers to gain the five new contracts that she offered to get the company as a condition of her employment. She knew that Quasar was keeping Eon safe in his private office and sought to get his blessing as Quasar’s mate. Eon accepted that, but asked her to use her mental powers to defend Wendell’s friend and family, as his father’s catastrophic brain hemorrhage was caused by Maelstrom and he might target others to further demoralize Quasar.[8] However, no the man she loves is probably dying and she feels powerless to do anything to stop it.

Back upstairs, Quasar is visited by the spirit of his father. Despite being dead, Gilbert is reluctant to accept there is an afterlife and assumes that he might just be a construct created by Eon. Regardless he has been summoned to tell his son how proud he is and get his forgiveness for always being so distant and more focused on his own scientific curiosity than Wendell’s achievements. He tells his son that he loves him and after a hug, disappears just as Mar-Vell did before him.

While upstairs, Maelstrom and the Weird Sisters have finally learned the location of Eon. With this knowledge in hand, Maelstrom no longer needs Quasar alive and prepares to put an end to both of their lives.

Maelstrom sends his minion Phobius downstairs to whip Quasar to death. He mockingly tells Wendell to count 39 lashes. However, with each strike, Quasar only repeats the number one over and over. This angers Phobius who loses his temper and whips Quasar seemingly to death.

However, sometime later, Quasar is woken up by Kid Reaper, his personal embodiment of Death itself. With the other aspects of Death throwing in with Oblivion to bring about the end of all life in the universe, only Kid Reaper was available to come and collect Quasar’s soul. Unfortunately for Kid Reaper, Wendell is still clinging onto life, prompting the Reaper to try and convince him to finally let go and allow himself to die. Eventually, Kid Reaper wears Wendell down and he finally agrees to let go. Once given permission, Kid Reaper plunges his scythe into Quasar’s chest, killing him.

This happens just as Maelstrom enters the realm of Eon where Quasar’s severed hands fall out of the Quantum Bands. Maelstrom quickly puts the bands on his own wrist to claim their power for his own.

While back on Earth, Moondragon telepathically senses Quasar’s death and cries out. While in Brooklyn, the Ghost Rider senses that innocent blood has been spilled and he vows that someone will pay.

Recurring Characters

Quasar, Captain Marvel (spirit), Eon, Kayla Ballentine, Ken Tanaka, Moondragon, Gilbert Vaughn (spirit), Kid Reaper, Ghost Rider, Deathurge, Maelstrom, Weird Sisters (Charm, Beauty, Truth), Gronk, Phobius

Continuity Notes

1. The Watchers made their vow of non-interference after they shared technology with an alien world that then used it to wipe themselves out in a devastating war. See Tales of Suspense #53 and Original Sin #0.

2. These events all take place prior to the events of Quasar #13-16, wherein the Watchers are infected with a logical fallacy regarding their oath and begin committing suicide. At the same time, the Squadron Supreme had been enthralled by the Overmind and are heading to the Stranger’s world so Overmind can get revenge.

3. Quasar previously clashed with Deathurge on the surface of Uranus back in Quasar #2.

4. Prior to Quasar becoming the Guardian of the Universe, the title was held by Mar-Vell until he succumbed to cancer in Marvel Graphic Novel #1.

5. Gilbert Vaughn died of a massive brain hemorrhage back in Quasar #12. Eon tried covering this up until the truth was discovered in issue #20.

6. Marvel battled and destroyed Thanos during the events of Captain Marvel #25-33 and Avengers #125.

7. Despite being vanquished, Thanos was resurrected in Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #34. This “new scheme” that Mar-Vell speaks of is the collection of the Infinity Gems to wipe out half of all life in the universe. This will be chronicled in Infinity Gauntlet #1-6.

8. There is a shit ton of Moondragon related exposition here. The deets:

   • Mention is made of how Moondragon was once associated with the Avengers. She first joined the team as a provisional member Avengers #137 until 151. When she was offered full membership, she turned it down to pursue other goals.

   • Prior to this, she was trained as a potential candidate for Celestial Madonna. A role that she was passed over for in favor of Mantis. See Avengers #129-135 and Giant-Size Avengers #2-4.

   • She mentions her first encounter with Quasar. This was when Captain America called together all past Avengers to form a new team in Avengers #305.

   • In the flashback about Quasar and Moondragon’s first meeting, Quasar is depicted wearing the costume he does not get until Quasar #18. While it appears to be an artist’s error it actually is not. In Quasar #25 it is revealed that when Origin gave him the new costume, she re-wrote Quasar’s history as though he was always wearing the new costume, making him an anomaly and able to withstand the Maelstrom’s powers.

   • Moondragon also mentions she was present for the defeat of both Thanos (referenced above) and Korvac. Nearly all the Avengers were involved in stopping Korvac from achieving ultimate power. See Avengers #167-168, and 170-177.

   • Moondragon later joined Vaughn Security Consultants as H.D. Steckley in Quasar #12. She met with Eon in issue #16.

   • It’s mentioned here that Makkari didn’t really die last issue. He will be revived in issue #25.

Topical References

• Kid Reaper quips that Quasar has been reading too many Harvey Comics as a kid. This is a reference to one of Harvey Comics most popular characters, Casper the Friendly Ghost. However, this should be considered a topical reference as Harvey Comics went out of business in 1994. The reference to Casper wouldn’t necessarily be topical however, since the character is now owned by Paramount Pictures who has regularly created media featuring the character.