Cosmos in Collision Part Seven: All— Or Nothing

Maelstrom had achieved his goal of ultimate power and used it to create a massive black hole in the center of the universe. Although Maelstrom has just been killed, the black hole persists and threatens to absorb all the kinetic energy in the universe and make it collapse into oblivion.[1] This universal crisis has brought every Watcher in the universe to observe, giving them front row seats to the end of everything. They all debate over their vow of interference, with some Watchers wanting to use their power to stop this, and others willing to fight them to prevent that from happening.[2]

As they bicker among themselves, the Celestials arrive in their ship so they might also observe what happens next.

The only hope for the universe rests in the spirit of Quasar, who has been tasked by Infinity to stop the cosmic collapse. As he struggles to figure out a way to stop the black hole, he realizes that he has been going around without hands, after his physical ones were amputated by Maelstrom.[3] Since he doesn’t need to keep going like this, Wendell wills his hands to return to his spirit form. He then plunges back into the black hole and uses his newly acquired Cosmic Consciousness to try and come up with a way to save the universe. He ventures into the very center of the black hole where everything finally compresses. There he finds a pinprick into oblivion and allows himself to be sucked into it, even if it might mean his final destruction.

Back on Earth, at the estate of Malcolm Stromberg, Moondragon continues to mourn over Quasar’s physical corpse. That’s when she is attacked again by the Weird Sisters. Charm, Truth, and Beauty try to use their various powers against Moondragon, but she is able to best them with her mental powers and martial arts skills. After defeating her three foes, Moondragon is then visited by a newcomer to the scene.

Elsewhere on Earth, Doctor Strange is working in concert with mystics all over the world to keep the planet alive after Maelstrom used his powers to stop the planet’s rotation. With the combined might of Moonglow, Aquarian, Doctor Duid, Shaman, Talisman, Shaman, and Aquarian, this is merely a stop-gap measure unless they find a way to get the planet spinning again. That’s when Strange is suddenly attacked by Maelstrom’s emissary of death, Deathurge. This threatens to put enough strain on the collective spell to break it. Luckily, Strange is being defended by the stranded members of the Squadron Supreme. After Whizzer uses his super-speed to eject Deathurge from Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum, Hyperion and Doctor Spectrum arrive on the scene to lend him a hand.

Meanwhile, at the center of the universe, more and more entities have come to observe what might be the end of the universe. Joining the Watchers and the Celestials are Galactus and his herald Nova, a group of Rigellians and their Recorder robots, as well as representatives of the Elan.

Within the back hole, Quasar has survived traveling to its center. He finds himself before the living embodiment of oblivion as well as the spirit of Maelstrom. Seeking to make the final push of universal destruction, Maelstrom and Oblivion merge together. To counteract this, Infinity also appears and merges with Quasar. The two Earthlings then become the physical avatars of these two abstract constructs fighting for the very fate of the universe.

Back on Earth, the woman who has arrived at Stromberg’s mansion is Sersi, another Eternal who had come looking for Quasar when he didn’t answer a summons from the Avengers.[4] Moondragon explains to her that both Quasar and his friend Makkari are dead.[5] However, Sersi tells Moondragon that Makkari is not dead and that, as a fellow Eternal, she can bring him back to life. However, as she works to revive Makkari they are attacked by three more of Maelstrom’s minions: Phobius, Gronk and Helio. However, Sersi has no interest in fighting and uses her power of transmutation to turn them into harmless animals. Getting back to work, Sersi is also told how Maelstrom is behind all of this and that he cheated death following her last encounter with the mad man.[6]

While back in Greenwich Village, the Squadron Supreme have subdued Deathurge. With the battle over, Doctor Spectrum checks on Doctor Strange and sees that he is still focused on his spell. What he doesn’t see is Gaea, the earth spirit, telling Stephen that he need only hold on a moment longer as she senses that the fate of all life in the universe will be decided very soon.

Meanwhile, Quasar’s battle with Maelstrom has crossed over into the Quantum Zone. Here, Maelstrom gloats about his impending victory, revealing that he killed and stole the power of personification of all anomalies.[7] Seeking away to defeat his foe, Quasar taps into the Cosmic Consciousness and discovers that his means of victory was already well in his graps. He reveals his ace-in-the-hole to Maelstrom by willing his spirit form to appear wearing the costume that was originally given to him by Eon when he was first selected to become the protector of the universe. Maelstrom doesn’t understand what that means or how it can stop him, so Quasar decides to spell it out. He recounts the time when the Unbeing tried to undo his origins. This was reversed by Origin who didn’t just give him a new costume, but retroactively changed the timeline so Quasar was always wearing it. This wasn’t just on a whim, but to create a temporal anomaly, making Quasar a walking pocket of reality inversion.[8]

This allows Quasar to finally overpower his foe, swallowing him up in a white hole that will reverse the damage done to the universe. Outside, the Watchers notice as this white hole begins absorbing its black counterpart, forcing everything to return to normal. With the battle over and Oblivion defeated, Infinity agrees to discuss the terms of his surrender. In order to broker a deal they summon two other of their aspects: Death and Eternity. As they discuss their deal, Quasar tries to listen but cannot understand what they are saying. Since there is nothing left for him to do, he quantum jumps back to Earth. Using the Quantum Bands he recovered from the black hole, he sets the Earth in proper motion again. He then goes down to the surface where he merges with physical body. Not only does this restore Quasar to life and repair his ravaged body, but he also creates a new costume for himself, a composite of all his previous costumes before it.

As Quasar arises before the astonished eyes of Moondragon and Sersi, he is visited by Infinity one last time. She tells him that she made a deal with Oblivion. They have agreed that Maelstrom and Eon will remain dead while Quasar and his friend Makkari were to be restored to life. After thanking Infinity for her help, Quasar is relieved when Makkari finally wakes up from his death-like state. While in Greenwich Village, Doctor Strange ends his spell that was keeping Earth alive after Gaea instructs him that the Earth has been saved. Watching all of this from his position over Saturn is Kronos, the god of the Eternals. He is pleased at having finally caught a glimpse of Infinity. He is pleased to learn that life and its constant struggle to endure is bounded in goodness.[9]

Recurring Characters

Quasar, Moondragon, Doctor Strange, Squadron Supreme (Hyperion, Whizzer, Doctor Spectrum), Infinity, Sersi, Makkari, Weird Sisters (Charm, Truth, Beauty), Deathurge, Maelstrom, Anomaly, Phobius, Gronk, Helio, the Watcher, Celestials (Arishem the Judge, Gammenon the Gatherer, Tefral the Surveyor, Jemiah the Analyzer, Hargen the Measurer), Moonglow, Aquarian, Doctor Druid, Talisman, Shaman, Galactus, Recorder, Nova, Gaea, Death, Eternity, Kronos

Continuity Notes

1. Although Maelstrom physically died last issue, we’ll see later this issue that his spirit is very much alive. He will be restored to a new body in Fantastic Four Unlimited #10.

2. The Watchers made a vow of non-interference centuries ago after sharing technology to the Procillians leading to that alien race wiping themselves out in an atomic war, as detailed in Tales of Suspense #53 and Original Sin #0. It is also mentioned here that the Watchers recently suffered the “oblivion plague” where many of their people were convinced that observing the universe was a form of interference in and of itself and they started committing suicide. Quasar convinced them to stop this and it was later revealed that Maelstrom was responsible for planting this idea in their minds. See Quasar #13-16 and 22.

3. Maelstrom amputated Quasar’s hands in Quasar #21 in order to steal the Quantum Bands from him.

4. The Avengers tried to summon Quasar, to no avail, in Captain America #388.

5. Maelstrom seemingly killed Makkari by stopping his heart in Quasar #21. Quasar bit the bullet the following issue.

6. Sersi and the Avengers clashed with Maelstrom in Avengers #247-248, ending with his body being expanded to the point where he disincorporated. In this disembodied form, Maelstrom had been aquiring the power he needed to try and destroy the universe, as has been chronicled since Quasar #19.

7. Maelstrom seemingly killed Anomaly in Quasar #20 and took its place. However, it is later revealed that he merely destroyed its Manifestation Body. The entity is seen again in Quasar #37.

8. The who Unbeing/Origin/new costume thin happened in Quasar #18. We got a hint of how this worked when a flashback from Quasar #22, which showed Quasar wearing his most recent costume instead of the one given to him by Eon in Quasar #3.

9. Kronos was once an Eternal who was caught in an explosion that expanded his being to the point where he became a disembodied entitiy, as seen in What If? #24-25. He has been trying to see a glimpse of Infinity for centuries, as explained in Quasar #19.