Destiny War
The Destiny War is a conflict that features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
History
The Destiny War was a conflict Kang the Conqueror and his future self Immortus. Immortus was tasked by the Time-Keepers to alter the destiny of the human race and prevent them from traveling beyond their solar system. If this happened, then humans would conquer the universe with help from the Avengers. Immortus had to stop the Avengers. If he didn't, the Time Keepers would destroy not only the Avengers but the human race and the Earth as well. (Avengers Forever v1 #8)
Immortus discovered that the root of this dark future was that of long time Avengers ally Rick Jones whose Destiny Force powers were beginning to resurface. Immortus decided to solve this problem by slaying Jones. At that time, Jones was left on the Blue Area of the Moon by the Avengers to be examined by the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree Empire. Immortus initially sent his agent Tempus to eliminate the boy, but he found opposition from the Intelligence, Libra, and his own past self Kang the Conqueror -- who was trying once again to thwart his destiny of becoming Immortus. Immortus responded in kind by sending a massive army of warriors from different eras to try and kill the boy. Jones himself managed to fight by using his Destiny Force powers to summon a group of Avengers from various times, including Captain America from the past, two versions of Henry Pym (Yellowjacket from the past and Giant Man from the present), the Wasp from the present, Hawkeye from the past, and Captain Marvel and Songbird from the future. (Avengers Forever v1 #1)
Immortus was forced to retreat when the Avengers were able to fight off his army and Jones accessed the full power of the Destiny Force. Immortus then decided to attempt another angle to strike and attacked Kang's home realm of Chronopolis. (Avengers Forever v1 #2) The Avengers were there as well, but they failed to stop Immortus from slaying Terminatrix and the Anachronauts. Kang forces the heroes and Jones to flee into the timestream while he stayed behind to face Immortus and his forces. Immortus eventually captured the Heart of Forever and use it to convert all of Chronopolis into the Forever Crystal, a powerful chronal device that allowed Immortus the ability to wipe out entire universes and prune the timeline according to the will of his masters. (Avengers Forever v1 #3) The Avengers escape the destruction of Chronopolis using Kang's replica Sphinx time-machine. The two Hank Pyms were able to determine that the time-machine dashboard was detecting three "chronal anomalies." Surmising these as potential hot spots of Immortus' activities, the Avengers break off into mini-squads. Utilizing Kang's smaller Chronosphere modules, they investigated with a sense of the "upper hand", believing Immortus did not suspect them. Staying behind and out of reach, Rick reluctantly becomes "home base". (Avengers Forever v1 #4) The first step Immortus took was to complete the final deception in his original plan to manipulate the Vision and the Scarlet Witch. He traveled back in time following the battle between the original Human Torch and his modern day counterpart. He then used the Forever Crystal to split the timestream, creating two versions of the Torch. One was taken by the robot Ultron to be transformed into the Vision and the other taken by the Mad Thinker who used the Torch's corpse to capture and enslave his partner Toro. This was to prevent Scarlet Witch, a Nexus being, from having children that could possibly become powerful enough to threaten the timestream. (Avengers Forever v1 #8)
The war was ignited when Immortus sends his servant Tempus to kill an apparently critically ill Rick Jones on the moon. Immortus knows that what is killing Rick is the 'Destiny Force', a powerful ability that manifested in him once before, during the Kree-Skrull War)
Rick has been brought to the Kree Supreme Intelligence, who was on the Earth moon and had agreed to examine him. Kang intervenes and the Intelligence causes Rick to use the Destiny Force to call a team of Avengers to him. The team members he calls are plucked from various points in the time stream. They cause Immortus' forces to withdraw before they could fufill their plan.
The team gathered consists of various members taken from different eras. Captain America has been plucked from just after his 1974 adventure (Captain America #176) where he discovered that the leader of the Secret Empire was a high ranking government official. The moment before he is teleported he had witnessed the leader he had been pursuing commit suicide with a pistol in the Oval Office, causing him great emotional distress. Yellowjacket has been taken from the early 1970s when his alter ego, Hank Pym, was mentally unbalanced. Giant-Man (also Hank Pym, but more adjusted) and the Wasp are both plucked from the "present" (1998) Marvel continuity. Hawkeye has been taken from circa Avengers #100 continuity, while Songbird and Captain Marvel are taken from an apparently alternative future.
Kang battles Immortus. Cover to Avengers Forever #3. Art by Carlos Pacheco.In the course of their investigations, which take them to various points in time and Limbo, the Avengers learn that Immortus is serving beings called the Time Keepers. The Keepers know that mankind will eventually go into space and establish the Terran Empire. This will involve wars and the destruction of many alien peoples, with the Avengers at the forefront of the invasions on the grounds of "pacification". The Keepers have charged Immortus with preventing such a disastrous future or else humanity will have to be destroyed. Since Immortus admires the Avengers he resolves to manipulate them and thus delay mankind's space efforts.
At the conclusion, Rick and the Avengers fight by the side of Libra, Kang and the Supreme Intelligence against Immortus and the Time Keepers. The Time Keepers kill Immortus for his failures, and attempt to accelerate Kang into Immortus; however, Kang perseveres and defeats the Time Keepers. Rick burns himself out stopping their plan, and Kang proceeds to kill the Time Keepers. Immortus then splits off from Kang, meaning Kang would never become Immortus. Rick merges with Genis-Vell, the third Captain Marvel, to save his life, and he and all the Avengers return to their original time periods with varying degrees of memory as to what they had been involved in.
Overview
As a result of the Destiny War, Rick Jones' injuries were cured (he had been unable to walk), Immortus was separated from Kang's future (Kang was previously destined to become Immortus), and Genis-Vell was reintroduced into an active role as Captain Marvel in addition to bonding with Rick Jones. It also featured a considerable number of alternative futures and versions of Marvel characters, as well as some changes in the timeline.
Participants
- Immortus :
- Tempus :
- Kang the Conqueror :
- Libra :
- Rick Jones :
Notes
- The Destiny War was created by Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern and Carlos Pacheco where it made its first appearance in Avengers Forever v1 #1 (October, 1998).
Appearances
- Avengers Forever v1: (1998)
External Links
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