Brand New Universe

Her has come to the Watcher’s Citadel on the moon looking for Quasar. There, Uatu explains that Quasar went into the multiverse to collect divergent versions of the Living Laser that were running amok in time and space. It was during this mission that Quasar ended up in a reality where Maelstrom and Thanos were fighting over control of the universe. Fleeing a powerful attack from Maelstrom, Quasar jumped into Quantum Zone. The Watcher lost track of him from there but promises her that he will know should he reappear. Her wants to go looking for Quasar, but Uatu refuses and is alert enough to stop her when she tries entering his multiversal screen while his back is turned.[1]

Elsewhere, in another reality’s version of New York City, the hero named Captain Manhattan has just busted a villain named Louie-Louie who has managed to get his hands on some advance weaponry.[2] Its during this bust that Antibody alerts Captain Manhattan to a flash of light in the sky. Fearing that this might be a meteorite falling to Earth, Captain Manhattan races into the sky to catch it. Manhattan fails to stop the falling object and it crashes into the ground below. Luckily, not much damage is done and as Manhattan and Antibody go to investigate they are joined by their teammates Glitter and the Blur. They are surprised to discover that it is a strange man in a colourful costume.

This is Quasar, and after waking up he makes sure nobody was hurt. He discovers that he is in another reality where superhumans are called Paranormals and there has been a heavy toll on the population after the destruction of Pittsburgh.[3]

Quasar then goes about searching this reality for a divergent Living Laser. However, his Quantum Bands reveal that this universe has vastly different properties. To avoid getting stranded, Quasar heads decides to find reality’s Watcher can send him home. However, when he arrives on the moon he discovers the satellite is uninhabited. He also discovers that he cannot contact Epoch back home, or jump into the Quantum Zone. He becomes despirate to find some kind of help and goes back to Earth to seek it out. Unfortunately, he can not find anyone common to his own reality or those he has previously visited who might help.

With nowhere else to turn, Quasar returns to New York City and writes a message in the sky asking Captain Manhattan for help. Manhattan answers the call and introduces Quasar to his teammates the D.P.7. After comparing notes with them, Quasar discovers that the things in his own reality are in comic books published by Marvel Comics.[4] The heroes of this world tell Quasar that the most powerful person on the planet, and the most likely to return them home, will be the carrier of the Star Brand. However, he hasn’t been seen since the end of the third World War.[5] Since the heroes of this world all got their power from the same White Event that created Star Brand, Quasar keys into their energy signatures with his Quantum Bands so he can use them to track down the most powerful reading he can find.

The trail leads Quasar to the home of John Hanrahan a retired soldier living on base in New Mexico. Changing into civilian clothing, Quasar knocks on the door but when he mentions the Star Brand, Hanrahan yanks him inside. As it turns out, John has been keeping the power in check after it was mysteriously passed on to him by its previous wielder. Seeing how past users used it to cause untold destruction on the planet, Hanrahan became determined to keep it from being used.[6] Needing the Star Brand to get home, Quasar explains his plight and proposes taking the Star Brand with him back to his native reality so John doesn’t have to worry about keeping it in check anymore.

Pleased to be rid of his burden, John shakes Quasar’s hand, transferring the Star Brand tattoo — and its power — in the process. Flying into space, Quasar focuses on his new power and thinks about home. Suddenly he is transported to the Nexus of Realities in the Florida Everglades. Seeing the Man-Thing lurking around, Quasar is pleased to have finally made it home. He races back to New York City where he tells his friends Kayla Ballentine and Ken Tanaka that he’s back and hugs them as he is glad to finally be home.[7]

He then heads back to the moon just as the Watcher is telling Her that Quasar is back. He arrives just as Her takes off to go looking for him on Earth. After Quasar explains his experiences in a universe with no similarities to his own, the Watcher theorizes that Wendell had ventured out of their own native multiverse and into another that exists in the greater omniverse. Quasar can’t really explain it himself and figures that the Star Brand burned itself out bringing him to Earth and figures they won’t have to worry about any threat from that other universe again.[8] However, as Quasar leaves the citadel he doesn’t notice that one of Antibody’s miniature antibody creatures has hitched a ride to this universe and is clinging onto his cape.

Recurring Characters

Quasar, the Watcher, Her, Kayla Ballentine, Ken Tanaka, D.P.7 (Captain Manhattan, Antibody, Chrome, Mastodon, Blur, Friction, Metallurge), Jim Hanrahan, Man-Thing

Continuity Notes

1. There is a lot of exposition right off the top, so here are the details:

   • Back in Quasar #6, our titular hero chased the Living Laser to the moon. The villain managed to evade capture by fleeing into the Watcher’s multiversal viewer.

   • Although the Laser would return to the Prime Marvel Universe in Iron Man #258-261, his escape from the multiverse created a divergence where a version of him ended up lost in various realities. This prompted the Watcher to enlist Quasar to round up the stray Lasers last issue.

   • Also last issue, the last world Quasar visited was Reality-92130 (per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #5) a world where Maelstrom and Thanos fought for the fate of the universe. This is a divergence of the Cosmos in Collision and Infinity Gauntlet events in Quasar #19-25 and Infinity Gauntlet #1-6.

2. This is so-called “New Universe” first seen in Star Brand #1. Per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005 #1, it has been designated Reality-148611. There are some issues with the passage of time in this story that are explained below.

3. Pittsburg was destroyed when Kenneth Connell, the original wielder of the Star Brand attempted to transfer the Brand to an inanimate object, causing a massive explosion. See Star Brand #12 and The Pitt #1.

4. As seen in Star Brand #12, the events of the Marvel Universe are fictional comic books. Quasar mentions how the same comics exist in his own world but are based on real life events. Since Fantastic Four #10, many Modern Age heroes have licensed out their adventures to Marvel Comics who publish them in universe.

5. They are referring to Kenneth Connell here. However, the power was ultimately transferred John Hanrahan in Star Brand #19. World War III happened following The Pitt #1 and was chronicled in The Draft #1 and The War #1-4. Also mentioned is the White Adventist cult, who appeared in D.P.7 #31-32.

6. The Star Brand was passed around by between Star Brand #13-17. The most destructive user being the so-called Star Child, son of Kenneth Connell.

7. What Quasar doesn’t realize is that, while hugging Kayla, he has accidentally transferred a portion of the Star Brand to her as revealed in Quasar #39 and explained in issue #49.

8. Quasar will discover that he is wrong, not only was part of it transferred to Kayla, he retains a portion. He won’t notice this because the Star Brand tattoo was hidden under his Quantum Bands and will not notice it until Quasar #44.

Issues With the New Universe

Most realities in the Marvel Multiverse operate on a Sliding Timescale. However, the so-called “New Universe” (Reality-148611) was a bit of a different beast. As explained in this story, it’s not part of the Marvel Multiverse, but rather the Marvel Omniverse which is another level up. An Omniverse is a group of multiverses that exist together. Multiverses are usually derivative of one another, while an Omniverse is comprised of groups of unique multiverses existing parallel to one another. This is used to explain why the New Universe was so vastly different to the Prime Marvel Unvierse and its multiversal counterparts. Different multiverse and therefor (allegedly) no similarities and different universal/multiversal laws.

That said, the New Universe was billed as a fictional work that operated in real time. In that the stories happened in the same year and month in which they were published. As such, the New Universe was mostly rooted in the late 80s and early 90s. Although it is not outright stated in this story, one could assume that the New Universe continued to advance in real time relative to the real world. With that in mind, since this story was published in 1992, one could assume that the year in the New Universe was the same. While Quasar comes from a reality that exists on a Sliding Timescale, the New Universe is on a fixed timeline.

That all said, Quasar did not travel to the past of the New Universe. The 1992 that he visited in this story was present day New Universe at that time. Something that is later explained in Exiles #3. In that story, the dimensional hopping Exiles went to a world that was just going through the Dark Phoenix Saga, an event many of the Exiles experienced in their own pasts. However, the story made it clear that this was not a time travel event, but visiting a reality where those events had yet to happen in that particular timeline.

That said, getting to the New Universe is incredibly difficult from the Marvel Multiverse, but it is not impossible. It is also possible to travel to a past point in history and create a divergent timeline, such as when Proteus and the Exiles visited the past of the New Universe in Exiles #72-74, causing it to diverge into Reality-15731.

This story, and subsequent later stories in the Quasar series state that the Star Brand is a unique power source that was unique to the New Universe and had no equivalent in the Prime Marvel Universe. That was until it started appearing in more recent stories beginning in Avengers (vol. 5) #7. In that story, the Superflow (which exists between realities) deemed that it was time for Earth-616 to experience the White Event that creates a Star Brand. This led to Kevin Connor becoming the “first” Star Brand of Earth-616. However, much later, in Avengers (vol. 8) #26 it is shown a dinosaur with the power of the Star Brand some 65 million years in the past.

If the Star Brand previously existed on Earth-616, a lot of people (particularly cosmic entities, such as the Watcher) don’t seem to know anything about it. Which is kind of hard to believe since it existed at least 65 million years earlier.

I have a few possible theories regarding this:

The first, is simply the fact that the Watcher sees all but doesn’t necessarily share all. There is information he keeps to himself because of his oath of non-interference. I think the simplest explanation is usually the easiest. Uatu didn’t all of a sudden go “Oh hey, there was a Star Brand in this reality as well” because knowledge of this great power could adversely affect the people of Earth. A lot of later Quasar stories involve people going after the New Universe Star Brand, so this would make some kind of sense.

Another possibility comes from the Star Brand series itself. One of the primary antagonists in that title was the bizarre Old Man, who appeared in the first issue. In issue #19 of that series, it was revealed that the Old Man was actually Kenneth Connell sent back in time 500 years into the past and, in turn, tormented his past self. One could assume that the Star Brand seen in Avengers (vol. 5) #7 gets sent into the distant past in some as yet untold story, hence why it appears 65 million years in the past in Avengers (vol. 8) #26.

Another one is a lot more questionable and makes a lot of conjecture. I refer to something said in Untold Tales of the New Universe #1. In that story, a multiversal observer named Arden notes that the Star Brand breaks the rules of a given universe because its power comes from a source outside of the multiverse. It exists to break the rules. Thus explaining why its existence in the Prime Marvel Universe is contradictory. There are points where it doesn’t seem to exist and nobody knows about it. There are times in recent history where it is a relatively new power in that universe while also having pre-existed.