Avengers: The Terminatrix Objective #1
Borderlands
After so many years and so many titles, Ravonna Renslayer — aka the Terminatrix — has found herself in an unexpected role: Usurper of Kang the Conqueror’s mastery over 7 centuries of history.[1] Trying to venture further into the past beyond these centuries, Ravonna is surprised when something stops her time capsule. Exiting the ship in her exo-armor, she decides to take a reading to find out why. There she is overwhelmed by Alioth, a massive time creature that rules over all past centuries stretching back to the dawn of time. He warns the Terminatrix that he is a beast at the gates of Kang’s empire and sometime soon he will attack.[2]
Annoyed that there was no mention of this threat, the Terminatrix returns to Chronopolis. There, she continues posing as Kang until she can get to the privacy of his inner chambers. There, orders the computers to comb Kang’s records and tell her who rules over the other time domains outside of his rule. She is interrupted by Deathhunt 9000s, who announces that while the Anachronauts will keep Ravonna’s secret they will no longer allow themselves to be ruled by her. The two part making threats to wipe out the other’s timeline if they interfere with their plans.[3] That’s when Brideshead, Kang’s computer, comes back with the search results. Unfortunately, the artificial intelligence has no records of Alioth, noting that its databases are limited to information that was volunteered by Kang himself. Ravonna is then reminded that she is scheduled to address the Council of Cross-Time Kangs, a priority that Kang himself never missed out.
Little does Ravonna realize that she is being observed by two individuals — a man and a woman — who exist in another time and another place. The woman believes that the time of Ravonna’s transcendence. To that end, the individual uses a time machine to pluck three Avengers from history to assist in her goals. They turn out to be US Agent, Thunderstrike, and War Machine.[4] The woman who summons them introduces herself as Revelation and welcomes them to her future, the year 9999 AD.[5] She explains that she has gathered the three Avengers together because they are the only ones in the team’s entire history that can stop Kang’s continued manipulation of the timestream. Although they aren't quick to trust Revelation, and after a round of introductions, the three Avengers agree to help, if only to stop Kang.[6] However, Thunderstrike recounts that Kang is apparently dead. Revelation corrects him, stating that Kang is actually being kept in stasis by his love, the Terminatrix and that she is the actual threat the three Avengers need to stop.[7]
Unaware of the plot against her, Ravonna spends time training with a combat robot. This session is interrupted by Brideshead who informs her that representatives from the Council are here to meet with her. Resuming her Kang disguise she meets with the three Council members: Kaseo, Raulex, and Swaach. The trio have come because the Congress of Realities are preparing for their recurring equinoctal session, leaving them vulnerable to attack.[8] While defeating the Congress will give them dominion over untold alternate timelines, “Kang” points out that the slightest miscalculation could plunge them into a cross-time war. Still, “Kang” tells them to file a report with Brideshead and “he” will examine the proposal and make a decision in due time.
After the Council members depart for their domain, Ravonna is ambushed by the three Avengers recruited by Revelation. Striking “Kang” with his shield, US Agent causes the Terminatrix to drop her disguise. Using her time jumping abilities, Ravonna is able to create an army from future versions of herself to disorientate the Avengers while the real Ravonna makes her escape through the time stream.
She appears in the days of the American Frontier in the middle of a saloon. She orders a drink from the confused bar tender and then heads out to figure out her next move. Since her unknown enemy has summoned three Avengers to attack her, the Terminatrix decides to call on a team of her own. Using her time portal she summons Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man.[9] Witnessing this from the year 9999, Revelation is amused by how predictable Ravonna is and looks forward to pitting the two Avengers teams against one another.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (US Agent, War Machine, Thunderstrike, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor), Revelation, Terminatrix, Alioth, Deathunt 9000, Kang, Council of Cross-Time Kangs, Brideshead, Marcus Immortus (unidentified)
Continuity Notes
Ravonna Renslayer’s past is briefly explained in an encapsulated narrative. The milestones covered are:
It mentions how she was once an “ambassador”. She was actually a princess of a kingdom that Kang hadn’t conquered because he loved Ravonna and wanted her to be his bride. She refused until one of Kang’s minions staged a mutiny. Seeing Kang fight for her people made Ravonna fall in love with him and she took a bullet meant for him. See Avengers #23-24.
“A corpsicle” is a reference to how Kang kept Ravonna in suspended animation while he tried to find a cure for her condition. He gave up the chance to cure her with the power of life and death given to him by the Grandmaster, instead choosing the power to kill the Avengers and failing as seen in Avengers #69-71. Avengers Annual #21 revealed that the Grandmaster took pity on her and secretly restored Ravonna to life, leaving a lifeless bio-duplicate in her place.
“A pirate”: After learning how Kang failed to restore her, Ravonna took on the guise of the space pirate Nebula and used this to become a member of the Council of Cross-Time Kangs starting in Avengers #291.
“A time tramp” refers to when she seduced her members of the council, Doctor Druid, and the Human Torch into gaining access to a supposed doomsday weapon stuck in a Time Bubble. See Avengers #292-297, Fantastic Four #337-341, and Avengers Spotlight #37.
“Assassin” was when Ravonna finally became the Terminatrix and went after Kang. Ironically, Kang dove into the path of Mjolnir when it was thrown at her and was seriously injured, leaving Ravonna in a role reversal. See Captain America Annual #11, Thor Annual #17, Fantastic Four Annual #25, and Avengers Annual #21.
It’s later explained that Alioth is the first being to break free into the time stream. Kang also erected barrier that keeps his end of the time stream barred from Alioth. See Avengers: The Terminatrix Objective #3.
From here, the core Anachronauts — Deathhunt, Apocryphus, Raa, Sir Raston, Ssith, Tyndar, and Wildrun — will all be seldom seen again. Deathhunt and Apocryphus will be tricked by Immortus in assisting him in manipulating the Avengers in War Machine #21 and Force Works #17-18, respectively. They, and the rest of the group will later be reduced to temporal shades by Immortus during his attack on Chronopolis, as seen in Avengers Forever #3.
The three Avengers have been plucked out of time from different points in Marvel history, but are all relatively around the same time period.
US Agent was pulled out of time between his appearances in Infinity Crusade #6 and Avengers West Coast #98.
Thunderstrike is from slightly in the future appearing here between his appearances in Quasar #60 and Warlock and the Infinity Watch #26.
War Machine comes from roughly the same period as US Agent. His comes here between his appearances in Spider-Man Family #8 and Iron Man Annual #14.
Per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #5, Revelations future timeline exists as part of Reality-93091. As we’ll learn in Avengers: The Terminatrix Objective #3, Revelation is an alternate version of Ravonna who agreed to marry Kang and ruled by his side until his death before taking over his empire for herself.
At first, Thunderstrike thinks War Machine is Iron Man, which Rhodey quickly corrects. Some things about this meeting:
Tony Stark initially created and wore the War Machine armor starting in Iron Man #282. However, after faking his death between Iron Man #284-289, Jim inherited the suit. When Tony was revealed to be alive Jim quit and went solo (hence why he takes offense to being called Iron Man here). He only started calling himself War Machine in Avengers West Coast #94.
The reason that Thunderstrike probably can’t tell the difference is because from the point where he was plucked from history, he was a member of the eastern Avengers, while Iron Man/War Machine had long been associated with the west coast team. More over, despite being a member of the Avengers, since becoming Thunderstrike in Thunderstrike #1, Eric Masterson had mostly operated solo, so it’s entirely possible he just hadn’t been paying attention to what’s been going on in the world of Iron Man. In fact, Thunderstrike won’t have a solo won’t encounter the true Iron Man until Iron Man #303-304, which takes place after this story.
Thunderstrike knows that Kang is “dead” because he was the one who tossed Mjolnir at Kang leading to his injury. The Citizen Kang event (described above) took place during the period in which Masterson had taken over the role of Thor from Thor #432-459.
First seen in Fear #19, the Congress of Realities govern alternate realities and parallel worlds in the multiverse.
Like the other three Avengers, Ravonna’s group are all plucked from different points in history. They are:
Captain America, who was plucked out of time around the same time as Thunderstrike. He appears here between his appearances in Quasar #60 and Darkhawk #33.
Thor, who also comes around the same period as well, appearing between the start of Thor #472 and the 2nd story of Thor Annual #19.
Lastly, Iron Man, according to the Marvel Chronology Project who comes from roughly the same period as War Machine appearing here between his appearances in Spider-Man Family #8 and the epilogue of Iron Man #295. At least, at the time of this writing in January, 2023. I disagree for reasons stated in my summary of next issue. It’s my opinion that Iron Man appears here between his appearances in Iron Man #300 and Avengers West Coast #102. TL;DR version: Tony Stark is wearing the Iron Man suit, which would have been impossible prior to Iron Man #295 as he was wearing a remotely piloted suit of armor at the time.
Topical References
References to the present day taking place in the 20th century should be considered topical. The Sliding Timescale has pushed the Modern Age of the Marvel Universe forward in time enough that it does not begin until after the start of the 21st century.
Ravonna states here that the Avengers will exist for 50 years. Per the Sliding Timescale, they have been around for 8 years so far at the time of this publication. At the rate the timescale progresses time, the Avengers won’t be in their 50th year until publications in 2161 (provided humanity is still alive and comic books are still a thing). Will the Avengers actually last for 50 years? None of us reading this will be alive to see it so don’t worry your pretty little head about it.
Sharp eyed readers probably noticed that the three members of the Council of Cross-Time Kangs are all named after brands of watches Kaseo (Casio), Raulex (Rollex), and Swaach (Swatch). Get it? Because they’re TIME KEEPERS! Since these are parody names that an in-joke between the writer and readers this would not be considered a topical reference.
