Iron Man (vol. 2) #11
Magical Mystery Tour
Iron Man is finally dead at the hands of Doctor Doom.[1] As Doom gloats over his victory, he explains how he was the one who masterminded Rebel O’Reilly’s resurrection as a cyborg using the same armor technology that Doom gave to the Russians to create the Titanium Man and Crimson Dynamo.[2] Doom then orders Rebel to strip off Iron Man’s armor so it can be examined and leaves him to work things over. However, what Doctor Doom doesn’t know is that Tony Stark and Rebel O’Reilly swapped armors before assaulting Hydra’s headquarters and the dead man in the Promethean Armor was Rebel himself.[3]
In the next room, Doctor Doom is monitoring deep space. He is aware of a coming threat that could consume the entire planet. Doom intends to save the planet, but hasn’t figured out how yet to do this.[4] That’s when Stark — back in his Iron Man — comes crashing into Doom’s private lab. In the ensuing clash, Iron Man knocks them both onto Doom’s chronometer which sends them backwards in time.
They appear about a year into the past where they witness the final battle against Onslaught, where Iron Man forced Doctor Doom to sacrifice himself along with the other heroes in order to stop the psionic creature.[5] Not remembering any of this, Doom wonders if this is a vision of what has been or what should have been. The pair suddenly go back even further in time, to Arizona back during the Avengers first mission against Loki.[6] When the Hulk grabs Doom by the throat, Iron Man blasts him away since Victor is his only ticket out of the past. That’s when Tony comes face-to-face with another Iron Man in more primitive armor. His is surprised when his on board scanners identifies this other Iron Man as Tony Stark. However, before either man can get answers as to what’s going on, the present day Iron Man and Doctor Doom are flung through time once more.
The pair are hurtled a few hundred years into the past and find themselves aboard the pirate ship sailed by Blackbeard the pirate. To their surprise, they discover that Blackbeard is actually Ben Grimm, aka the Thing of the Fantastic Four.[7] While Ben doesn’t recognize Iron Man he knows Doom an accuses of stranding him in the past. After a brief battle, Tony and Victor are sent through time once more.
They go back thousands of years earlier and find themselves shrunk down in size and trapped in an hour glass owned by Merlin the magician. Merlin cryptically tells them that they are here again for the first time.[8] He warns them that their trip through time threatens the fabric of all reality. However, before they can get any more help they are thrown back even further. This time to ancient Egypt over 2000 years ago. There they are greeted by Rama-Tut, the pharao of Egypt that lives in this era. A time traveler himself, he also recognizes Doctor Doom and is amused when Doom refuses to bow before him.[9] Once again, before they can get any further answers Iron Man and Doom are sent backwards in time yet again. Suddenly, they find themselves in the year one million BC, where they witness Air-Walker — a herald of Galactus — seeding planet Earth so that it could be later devoured by his master Galactus.[10]
Before Doom can get the full scope of what’s going on, the pair are suddenly transported back to the present day. Although Victor’s army of Doombots are ready to attack Iron Man, Doom orders them to stand down as he has much to think about.
Later, Tony Stark and Reed Richards meet to mourn the loss of Rebel O’Reilly. Tony uses the time to explain his trip through time. Reed also explains his own bizarre adventure in the Negative Zone where he saw events from a past he no longer remembers.[11] The two men are left wondering if they saw a past they no longer remember or if they were looking into parallel universes. Tony still can’t wrap his head around how so many of his close friends from university gained fantastic powers, something that would seem statistically unlikely.[12] Reed also wonders if this all for some greater purpose. That’s when they are visited by the alien known as the Watcher. He tells them that their have all gotten their powers for a great purpose indeed and warns them that a planetary threat is coming that will threaten to consume the Earth if they don’t band together to stop it. The Watcher explains that he has done all he can but there will be others when the heroes of Earth reunite.
That’s when they are joined by the Hulk, Doc Samson, and the She-Hulk, who introduce themselves as the Hulkbusters.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Doctor Doom, Mister Fantastic, Hulkbusters (Hulk, She-Hulk, Abomination), Rebel O’Reilly, Onslaught, Thing, Thor, Merlin, Rama-Tut, Watcher
Continuity Notes
It should be noted that this is a pocket universe created by Franklin Richards to save the lives of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers in Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1. As such among the present day characters only Iron Man, Doctor Doom, Mister Fantastic, and the Hulk are the real deal. Everyone else featured here is actually a construct created by Franklin to populate his imaginary Earth. See Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4 for more details on that. The only exception are the individuals they encounter traveling through time (Onslaught, the Thing, Thor, Merlin, Rama-Tut, etc) the only exception being Air-Walker.
Doctor Doom’s involvement in Titanium Man and Crimson Dynamo was hinted at in Iron Man (vol. 2) #8. However, these past memories are all fabrications to sell the idea that Franklin’s Counter-Earth has existed for longer than it really has. See Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4, again.
Rebel died back in Iron Man (vol. 2) #1 but was resurrected as a cyborg by Doctor Doom. Living on borrowed time, O’Reilly asked Tony to help him die a hero. See Iron Man (vol. 2) #7-10. Although dead here, O’Reilly will be resurrected a second time thanks to the Dreaming Celestial mucking around with Counter-Earth, as we’ll see in Heroes Reborn: Rebel #1.
This is the threat of Galactus who is coming to Earth to consume it. See the 12th issues of the 2nd volumes of Fantastic Four, Avengers, Iron Man, and Captain America for more.
Indeed, Iron Man did force Doom to join the sacrifice against Onslaught, as seen in Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1. There are some issues with the time travel and measurement of time in this story, which I will address in greater detail below.
The present day Iron Man and Doctor Doom end up going back in time to the events of Avengers #1. While the narration here merely states that this moment takes place “years ago”, the Sliding Timescale dictates that Stark and Doom ended up over 9 years into the past.
This would be during the events of Fantastic Four #5, when Doom sent Ben, Reed, and Johnny into the past to Blackbeard’s era to recover magical gems once owned by Merlin the magician.
Iron Man and Doom have been trapped in Camelot in the past. As seen in Iron Man #150.
This story references Rama-Tut’s first reign of Egypt circa Fantastic Four #19 (this issue incorrectly refers to issue #17). However, here, Rama-Tut acts as though he met Doctor Doom before meaning that this could only have happened after Fantastic Four Annual #2. The Marvel Chronology Project places this appearance as actually happening during Rama-Tut’s return to Egypt between being the Scarlet Centurion and becoming Kang the Conqueror.
This isn’t the past of the Prime Marvel Universe like all the other jaunts back through time. It instead is the “past” of Franklin’s Counter-Earth. Since most of its past is fabricated, it should have been impossible for Iron Man and Doctor Doom to visit it. See below for further explanation.
Reed and his team experienced their Pre-Heroes Reborn past lives in Fantastic Four (vol. 2) #7.
Tony and Reed are believed to have attended State University here, as per Iron Man (vol. 2) #1 and Fantastic Four (vol. 2) #5. In reality, these are false memories implanted in their minds by Franklin to make them believe Counter-Earth has existed longer than it actually has. See Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4.
Topical References
This story states that it has been about a year since the climax of the Onslaught storyline. This should be considered a topical reference due to the compression of time caused by the Sliding Timescale. When measured at a 4:1 ratio, every four years of publications = 1 year in universe. The measurement of a “year” in this story is also congruent with the length of time between publications and shouldn’t be taken literally. In the fiction it would have been more like 4 months rather than a year. There are also issues with how time is measured on Counter-Earth when it existed in Franklin’s pocket dimension, see below for more on this.
Time Travel in the Heroes Reborn Pocket Universe
As of this writing, the process of time travel in the Heroes Reborn pocket dimension is never clearly explained. There appears to be some kind of logic around it but there are still contradictions. As seen in this story and Fantastic Four (vol. 2) #7, going back in time longer than the “year” the Heroes Reborn universe has been in existence, our heroes find themselves on Earth-616 revisiting past moments in that reality relevant to them. This suggests that attempts to go back beyond the actual creation of Counter-Earth takes people outside its confines and into the Prime Marvel Universe. This would make sense as stories such as Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4 explain that the past memories of everyone on Counter-Earth is fabricated.
The only contradiction to this is when Doom and Iron Man go back to the year 1 million BC. The “past” they are seeing is that of Counter-Earth, not the Prime Marvel Universe, as the threat posed by Galactus that is central to the Heroes Reborn storyline is unique to itself. None of the elements about seeding planets are part of the Prime Marvel Universe.
As of this writing (September, 2022) there has been no explanation for this discrepancy. Given that this is already 25-year-old mystery relating to an unpopular storyline, I highly doubt it will.
One explanation is that perhaps this was the work of Merlin since he’s, you know, magic. He seemed to know what’s going on and perhaps he used his power to make the fabricated past of Counter-Earth temporarily real. Or perhaps it was the Watcher, since he openly warns our heroes of the coming threat of Galactus. Either way, it’s up to the reader to figure it out I guess since its all speculative at this point.
