CONGRESS of REALITIES
Membership: Most unnamed
Purpose: Maintenance of their respective realities; Act as liasons to the other realities and to the Living Tribunal
Affiliations: Agents of the Living Tribunal; some have been allied with Thog and/or Ereshkigal
Enemies: Alioth, Council of Kangs, the Delubric Consortium, Kang the Conqueror, Revelation, Time Variance Authority;
Some resent the Living Tribunal, some opposed Ereshkigal (and presumably Thog);
Those allied with Thog were enemies of Dakimh the Enchanter, Howard the Duck, Jennifer Kale, Korrek, Maftra, Man-Thing, Zokk;
Those allied with Ereshkigal were enemies of Living Tribunal
Base of Operations: Each member has their base of operations in their respective dimension/universe/reality
They frequently meet at the Interzone
First Appearance: (mentioned) Adventure into Fear#19 (December, 1973); (seen) Man-Thing I#1 (January, 1974)
History:
(Adventure into Fear#19 (fb) - BTS) - The Congress of Realities is a hard one to pin down. They are clearly representatives of each reality/universe/dimension within the larger Multiverse which is governed by the Living Tribunal. In at least one case it was composed of the Nexus Guardians (those charged with guarding the Nexus of Realities) in their dimension. Whatever their organization, they apparently attempt to rule by democracy. They have/had an immense membership with nearly ten times the member-worlds as the empire of Kang the Conqueror.
(Adventure into Fear#19 / Man-Thing I#1) - Damage to the Nexus of Realities in the Man-Thing's swamp (in Citrusville, Florida, on Earth-Prime) apparently disturbed the balance between the various dimensions, threatening to collapse them into a single realm. The demon Thog, then posing as a humanoid known only as the Overmaster, gathered together the Congress of Realities. Convincing them that they could achieve godhood by following his plan to merge the realities. This would grant them domination over said realities.
Thog's plan led them to the realm of Therea, a god-like realm, where they planned to slay the God/Dogs Zokk and Maftra. Members of the Congress sent various warriors from their realms to accompany Thog to Therea. However, when the Man-Thing destroyed Thog (albeit temporarily), the warriors feared similar fates for themselves, and fled.
(Quasar#50) - The Deviant Ereshkigal obtained the power of the Starbrand, and used it to contact the various Nexus Guardians, summoning the Congress of Realities to the Interzone, the pocket realm linking all of the Nexi. She convinced several of the Guardians to join her in attempting to manipulate the Cosmic Axis, thus drawing the attention of the Living Tribunal, and attempting to force him to relinquish control of the Multiverse. She convinced the Guardians that by taking control for themselves, they would be free to run their realities as they'd see fit, without having to follow the restrictions of the Living Tribunal. Ereshkigal ultimately lost her gambit with the Living Tribunal and apparently destroyed herself to avoid facing his judgement. The Guardians.
(Avengers: Terminatrix Objective#1) - The Council of Cross-Time Kang's Kangs "Casio," Raulex, and Swaach met with the "prime Kang" (actually the disguised Terminatrix), proposing an assault on the Congress of Realities, which the "prime Kang" ignored.
(Avengers: Terminatrix Objective#1-4 - BTS) - The Congress was revealed to have/have had an immense membership with nearly ten times the member-worlds as the empire of Kang the Conqueror. It apparently is one of his major rival empires, ruling a large number of parallel time periods.
(Avengers Forever#9 (fb) - BTS) - Kang attempted to cement his rulership of the chronal realms by occupying/distracting the various temporal empires. Several of the empires were pitted against each other, and the Congress of Realities was "similarly occupied."
Comments: Created by Steve Gerber (writer), Val Mayerik (pencils), Sal Trapani (inks).
The Earth dimension is a Universe. The divergent Earths and other associated dimensions make up a Multiverse. Other dimensions, such as the one known as the New Universe, which are far different than just divergent timelines, are from separate multiverses. The multiverses together are part of the greater Omniverse. This apparently applies to other comic book realities as well, such as DC, Image, etc.
Profile by Snood
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Congress of Realities has no known connection to
images: (without ads)
Man-Thing I#1, p11, pan1 (Congress of Realities main image)
Quasar#50, p17, pan2 (Congress in Quasar)
Avengers: Terminatrix Objective#3, p14, pan3 (Congress in Terminatrix Objective)
Appearances:
Adventure into Fear#19 (December, 1973) - Steve Gerber (writer), Val Mayerik (pencils), Sal Trapani (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Man-Thing I#1 (January, 1974) - Steve Gerber (writer), Val Mayerik (pencils), Sal Trapani (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Quasar#50 (September, 1993) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Andy Smith (pencils), Ralph Cabrera (inks), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Avengers: Terminatrix Objective#1-4 (September-December, 1993) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Mike Gustovich (pencils), Bud LaRosa, Martineck (#2), Don Hudson (#3-4) & Dell Barras (#4) (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Avengers Forever#9 (August, 1999) - Kurt Busiek & Roger Stern (writer), Carlos Pacheco (pencils), Jesus Merino (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
First Posted: 12/24/2001
Last updated: 02/01/2014
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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