Marvel Team-Up (vol. 3) #16

Jul 13

Jul 13 Marvel Team-Up (vol. 3) #16

League of Losers Part Two

Chased by Chronoc’s super-hero kill squad, Gravity and Speedball happen upon Terror, Inc. and ask the ghoulish detective for help. However, there’s not much that Terror can do.[1] Luckily Araña and X-23 arrive on the scene to lend a hand. As they fight, Terror gets a hole shot throug his chest, but due to his ghoulish nature survives the attack. That’s when Sleepwalker is able to join the battle since his human host, Rick Sheridan, has gone to sleep. Also arriving on the scene is Darkhawk and Dagger who suggest that they all flee as they are clearly outnumbered. Everyone agrees, however they end up running into the middle of Times Square where they are totally surrounded. When Darkhawk asks why they aren’t firing they are joined by the leader of this army, the time traveller known as Chronok. He wants the heroes to listen to the sound of silence that has fallen over New York City, a sign that he has won. Dagger demands to know who he is and why he was doing it, Chronok decides to indulge her.

He admits that he regreats that he won’t be able to gloat over his victory since none of his enemies will be born with many years with. He is happy to have someone to brag to now. He explains that he researched every historical record on superheroes, their civilian identities, and all of their past secrets. He then used his Chronometer to bring himself and a fraction of his army back in time and conquered this era in a matter of two days. His gloating is interrupted when Terror tries to shoot him in the head. Unfortunately, the bullet bounces harmlessly off Chronok’s visor. Furious at this insult, Chronok orders his men to kill the last of the heroes. Pinned in the middle of Times Square, Darkhawk orders the others that they need to stick together and work as a team. However, they are grossly outnumbered and Darkhawk begins trying to figure out a way to get them out of there. When there’s an opening the remaning heroes try to make a run for it but Chronok decides to get involve personally and attacks Darkhawk. Speedball comes to his rescue and provides enough of a distraction for Dagger to open up a manhole cover for them to flee. Recovering from Speedball’s attack, Chornok tells his men to send one of their seekers, an explosive drone, to go after them.

When the seeker starts chasing them, the heroes try to flee. With the device ganining on them, Speedball grabs Araña’s arm to help her move. Moments later, the seeker explodes. While everyone recovers from the blast, Speedball is horrified to discover that Araña was caught in the blast and he has been holding onto her severed arm. Since he lost one of his in the battle above, Terror disgusts the others when he attaches Araña’s remaining limb to his body. X-23 blames herself for Araña’s death, as the two had been surviving together after Laura survived the culling of the X-Men, a slaughter that she was too afraid to try and stop. Dagger consoles Laura, telling her how it’s not anymore her fault than it was Dagger’s fault when these monsters killed her partner Cloak. Everyone of these survivors have their own reason to feel guilty. For Gravity, it was watching Luke Cage die. For Darkhawk, it was the loss of his teammates in Excelsior. Darkhawk then tells them all that everyone lost someone important and that’s why they need to fight to avenge everyone they lost. That’s when Speedball reveals that he managed to steal Chronok’s Chronometer and suggest that they use it to prevent this from happening. Figuring out how the device works, they all agree to go to the month prior to Chronok going back in time to slaughter every hero.

Passing through the portal, they find themselves still in the sewer and quickly go up to the surface to see where they are. There, they are almost run over by a car because it is totally silent. As the driver cusses them out for making him crash, they are then joined by the mysterious Mutant, who tells them that Sentinels should be coming this way soon and if they want to survive the experience they should come with him.[2]

Recurring Characters

League of Losers (Darkhawk, Speedball, Gravity, X-23, Sleepwalker, Terror Inc., Dagger), Mutant 2099, Chronok

Continuity Notes

It should be noted that this story takes place in an alternate reality. Marvel Legacy: The 1990s Handbook #1 designates it Reality-6215.
The future that the League of Losers ends up in is the Marvel Knights 2099 reality. Per the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Realitites 2005 it is designated as Reality-2992.