Ultraforce/Avengers: Prelude #1
The Swords are Drawn…
This story continues from Ultraforce #10…
Having learned that Loki has crossed over into his new home universe, the Black Knight, aka Dane Whitman, used a mytic scrying pool to summon his old allies the Avengers. Instead, he summoned his the lost Sersi, his lover and Gann Josin instead. Possessed by some other entity, Sersi began attacking everyone on sight, getting in a clash with Dane’s new Ultraforce teammate Topaz.[1]
The Knight gets between the two women and pulls Sersi away. Removing his helmet to show her who he is, Sersi reasserts control thanks to their Gann Josin bond. That’s when Diane, the woman who Sersi seemingly killed upon her arrival reveals that she is still alive. She warns the couple to save their happy reunion for later.
Seconds later, Prime comes crashing in through the wall as Ultraforce’s battle with a horde of demons spills into the chamber. Needing to stop the fighting, Dane orders Prime to slam his fist as hard as possible on the ground, rocking the combatants so hard that the fight comes to an end.[2] With the battle over, the Ultras give Dane and Sersi a moment to enjoy their reunion. That’s when Diana tells them of the threat to this universe that have come from another reality. From the scrying pool she shows them these threats and Dane instantly recognizes it as the Infinity Gems and Loki, the Norse god of mischief.[3] Although he natural powers are diminished in this reality, Sersi has access to others and is able to dispatch Ultraforce to the locations of the Gems so they can gather them before Loki can. With the entity possessing Sersi back in control, she decides there is no further use for Diana and slays her.
Inside her mind, Sersi finds herself trapped in a strange mindscape where the images of the Ultras appear in mirrors around her. Another, which reflects nothing but a black void calls out to her. It tells her that she is one step closer to bringing back the once and future god of all creation. It promises her that it can offer her an infinite number of worlds to rule at the price of some small sacrifices. The black mirror then spits out the Infinity Gems and they speed toward the reflections of the Ultraforce. Denying this entity, Sersi tries to stop the Gems course, but is too slow and they soon shatter all the mirrors around her, fragmenting the images of Dane and his new allies.
Prime and Prototype end up in a baren location where the Power and Mind Gems have been blown up to massive size. However, when one gets too close they begin to grow in size and strength while the other is shrunk down to size, creating quite the dilemma on how they can gather the two gems. Meanwhile, Topaz wakes up back on her home world of Gwendore.[4] Being back home after so much time away brings the woman to tears. Catching her reflection in the mirror she notices that Space Gem on her brow and realizes she has two options: return to Earth to aid her allies or remain on Gwendore and doom them to failure.
Contrary, on the other hand, finds herself transported to Vahdala, the hub and core of the Godwheel, appearing before Loki himself. The trickster welcomes her to his new domain and Contrary notices that Loki is in possession of the Reality Gem. Loki tempters her to be his consort and reveals that her fellow Ultra, Siren, is the Asgardian’s prisoner. Loki confirms that the other members are Ultraforce and that they are all his pawns in his personal Infinity Gauntlet. As he tempts Contrary, Siren manages to pick the lock on her shackles and gets free.
Elsewhere on the Godwheel, Hardcase and Ghoul have been transported to a massive cemetery. High above them float the Soul and Time Gem. However, before they can even figure out a way to get them, the deceased members of the Exiles and the Squad rise from the ground.[5] Hardcase orders Ghoul to use his necromantic powers to control them, but it comes too late and the pair are swarmed. Ghoul manages to leap up and grab the Time Gem instead and uses its powers to restore everyone to life. However, Hardcase can’t bare to look at his former teammates as he had recently re-experienced losing them during a trip into the past.[6] However, Ghoul is happy to be reunited with his beloved Tinsel once more. But, they quickly learn that even though the Exiles and the Squad have been restored to life their souls are vacant. This leaves Ghoul with a Sophie’s choice of his own: Does he keep keep the unliving alive or return them to the grave.
These challenges are all being observed by Sersi from the shattered mirror fragments in her soulscape. Absent from her view is the Black Knight and when she calls out his name, a doorway opens and Dane appears before her telling her that they’ll always be together forever.
Back in the Godwheel, the other members of the Ultraverse make their decisions. Ghoul decides to return his friends to the grave and stomps the Time Gem, causing the Exiles and the Squad to turn into dust. On Gwendore, Topaz refuses to abandon her comrades. Removing the Space Gem from her brow she tosses it into the air and blasts it with her Gwendorian Staff. Elsewhere, Prime and Prototype work together to grab the Mind Gem and slam it into the Power Gem, shattering both. While in Vahdala, Loki continues tempting Contrary, suggesting that there is an even greater evil at play. While they are both distracted, Siren manages to get the drop on Loki and grabs the Reality Gem. She uses it to teleport herself and Contrary back to Earth but somehow disappeared from her hands.
All of the other members of Ultraforce are there as well, including the Black Knight. Dane tells them that he convinced Sersi to bring them all back home, only to loser her in the process just when she needed them the most. Elsewhere in time and space, Sersi struggles against the entity controlling her as a seventh Infinity Gem looms over her.[7]
Recurring Characters
Ultraforce (Black Knight, Topaz, Prime, Prototype, Ghoul, Siren, Hardcase, Contrary), Sersi, Nemesis, Loki
Continuity Notes
There is kind of a lot going on here with little explanation unless you had been reading the range of Malibu Comics that were published at the time of this story. Here are the details:
For starters, the Ultraverse is an parallel reality. Per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005 #1, it has been indexed as Reality-93060.
The Black Knight is Sersi’s Gan Josin, or life mate. A position that was forced upon him by the other Eternals in Avengers #361. This bond will remain intact until Black Knight: Exodus #1.
Both the Black Knight and Sersi originally came to Reality-93060 in the hopes that it would cure Sersi of the Mahd W’yry in Avengers #375. The pair appeared on Reality-93060 circa Ultraforce #8, but were separated. Dane ended up joining up with Ultraforce while Sersi…
Sersi is possessed by a cosmic entity called Nemesis. Nemesis was the first being in all existence and tried to create life. Having no concept of good or evil, her creations turned out evil. She extinguished these creatures and ended her life out of lonliness. This resulted in the creation of both the Multiverse as well as the Infinity Gems. See Thanos Quest #2 and Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #45. Nemesis’ true identity is not revealed until Avengers/Ultraforce #1.
At the time of this story, the six Infinity Gems were lost in the Ultraverse after they were stolen from Earth-616 by Rune in Rune/Silver Surfer #1. Loki had come to the Ultraverse to gather them so he could use their power to destroy the Avengers in his native reality. See Godwheel #3, Lord Pumpkin/Mantra #1, Hardcase #23, Mantra #22, Night Man #21-22, Curse of Rune #3, Hardcase #23, and Ultraforce #10.
Dane sent out a distress call to the Avengers, but there was nobody around to get it as seen in Ultraforce #10 and Avengers #380.
It’s mentioned here that Prime had just joined up the fight after returning from the Godwheel. The Godwheel is a massive cosmic artifact that created by the mysterious gods of Vagdala. It was first seen in Break-Thru #2. Prime just came from there, as seen in Power of Prime #1-4.
The Black Knight is surprised to learn that Warlock and “his bunch” lost the Infinity Gems. Following the events of Infinity Gauntlet #1-6, Adam Warlock decreed that the Gems were too dangerous for any one individual to control. He formed the Infinity Watch in Warlock and the Infinity Watch #1. They safe guarded the Gems for 42 issues until they mysteriously disappeared. This led into the two issue Thanos Quest search for the Gems until they were stolen from Earth-616 by Rune. Caught up now? Good.
A pan-dimensional gateway had taken Topaz from her native dimension to the Ultraforce’s Earth where she has been stranded since Ultraforce #1.
The original Ultraverse Exiles were a short lived team, that the Ghoul was a part of. Tinsel died in Exiles #3, while Trax, and Mustang were killed in the following issue. Catapult and Deadeye were seriously injured but survived. However, by that point the team was decimated and was subsequently disbanded. Hardcase was a member of the Squad, however his teammates — Forsa, DJ Blast, and Starburst — were all killed one of their early mission as seen in Hardcase #1.
Hardcase laments here that he doesn’t want to live through this again. He is referring to the events of Hardcase #23. In that story, he obtained the Time Gem tried to prevent the death of his teammates. It came at the cost of the woman he loved and was forced to undo the changes to the timeline by Loki. Per the Unofficial Appendix, Hardcase created an divergent timeline designated Reality-95523. To my knowledge, this reality number has not officially been accepted by Marvel and could be subject to change at a later date.
This is the Ego Gem, which Sersi collected back in Eliminator #3. It’s not named until Avengers/Ultraverse #1, which explains that when used in concert with the other six it will restore Nemesis to life. It was lost in the Ultraverse when Nemesis originally killed herself centuries earlier. This contradicts later stories, such as Infinity Wars #5-6. In that story it is stated that the Infinity Stones (as they were called and will be called again in later stories) came from the First Cosmos and are sent into other universes by the Celestials. This origin excludes the Ego Gem and any mention of Nemesis. However, these explanations aren’t mutually exclusive either. Perhaps the Ego Gem is unique and has sentience and convinced itself the story it tells about its origins are true.
Publication Notes
The indica for this issue lists this comic as Ultraforce/Avengers: Prelude #11, not because there were 10 issues before it, but because it uses the numbering from the first volume of Ultraforce which was on its 10th issue one month prior. The title was rebooted after this crossover ended. Unlike a certain crowdsourced website, I will choose between the indica or the cover depending on which one makes the most sense. For a nearly forgotten book like this one, most people aren’t going to commonly know how it was classified in the indica, as such I chose the cover numbering. If you got a problem with that, go spin, this is my website, my rules.
