EARTH-FOREVER YESTERDAY

Type: Alternate Earth
Core Continuum Designation: Earth-9105

Environment: Earth-Like

Dominant Life Forms: Humans

Representatives: Avengers, Namorita, Night Thrasher, Sphinx (Meryet Karim), the Mutant Liberation Front

Affiliations: Sphinx (Meryet Karim), Sayge

Enemies: Nova, New Warriors

Aliases: Earth-Sphinx

First Appearance: New Warriors I#11 (May, 1991)

History: (New Warriors I#11 (fb))- When Moses defied the Pharaoh, in this Earth the Pharaoh's sorcerer defeated him, and Moses was killed. The Sorcerer grew in importance, and eventually received the Ka Stone from a young woman who found it in the desert. Having acquired eternal life and great power, the sorcerer became the Sphinx. He married and eternalized the young woman.

Together, they advised hundreds of pharaohs, guided the discovery of new continents, watched the Declaration of Independence and the creation of the United States of Assyria, the civil war that ended the Caucasian slavery; overall, they helped guide civilization.

Then, in the early 20th century, World War I made Europe a bloody battlefield, and the USA had to interfere. The Sphinx and wife moved to the USA, but the period between wars was equally unstable. Another Great War came, this time between the Anglo-Saxons, Egyptians and Assyrians allied against the Asian-Pacific Union. The Asians dropped A-bombs over New Memphis, and destroyed Aknatonikutt and New Hebridas; Maqaman Island survived because of its force field.

Exhausted, the Sphinx gave his wife's cat immortality, and gave her the Ka Stone, allowing himself to die at last.

(New Warriors I#11)- Cannonball, Firestar and Marvel Man (this Earth's Vance Astrovik), part of a group of mutant rebels, were intercepted by this Earth's Avengers while they tried to bring secret information regarding the force field around Maqaman Island, the Sphinx's lair. In the ensuing fight, Commander Logan distracted the Avengers long enough for the three to be saved, but was killed by Horus in the process. The three returned safely to their HQ in New Hebridas. Returning to his family home, the Avenger Nova found Sayge, who revealed him the Earth's true history.

(New Warriors I#12)- A group of the Mutant Liberation Front (Juggernaut, Cannonball, Marvel Man, Firestar, Beast and Sebastian Shaw) invaded Maqaman Island, having deactivated its force field using information provided by Sgt. Fury and Reed Richards. Meanwhile, fully informed of his Earth's inherent falsehood, Richard Rider left his home to help the Avengers battle the invading mutants. More and more his mind began to turn to the truth (Earth-616), and he switched sides. He knocked out the Avengers, and as the whole MLF invaded the island, a towering Sphinx appeared, ready to destroy the MLF and Earth altogether. Meanwhile, the Richard and the Taylors, humans trying to betray the Sphinx, were killed at the Taylor home. Only young Dwayne survived, ready for revenge.

(New Warriors I#13)- As the battle between the Sphinx and the MLF raged on, Dwayne Taylor infiltrated the Sphinx home at the Chrysler Building where, now as Night Thrasher, Dwayne saw his world plunging into chaos. Dwayne saw the Sphinx's cat, the last memory of his love of her, and decided to slay it. The Sphinx was distracted when she sensed it, and fled the scene. The MLF started to battle the assembled Avengers, and the members of Earth-616 New Warriors, aided by Sayge (sans Namorita, who was helping an invasion of the Persian Gulf with his cousin, and Speedball, who was just a powerless kid in Springdale, Aknatonikutt), went to the Chrysler building, where they helped Night Thrasher. Richard Rider captured the cat, and threatened to kill it if the Sphinx, whom Sayge revealed the Truth to, didn't alter the world back to its real state. Wanting to save her last token of her lost love, the Sphinx reverted her alteration of the Earth, returning all to normal.

(Avengers Forever#11)- In order to defeat the Avengers, the Time-Keepers used the Forever Crystal to summon Avengers from divergent realities that had turned dark and destructive. Manipulated by the Time-Keepers and given the order to kill, the Avengers of Earth-9105 were among these minions. Rick Jones summoned a host of alternate avengers to fight them who were from timelines that had not turned destructive.

(Avengers Forever#12)- The Avengers of Earth-9105 were seen battling various other alternate Avengers. However, when Captain America shattered the Forever Crystal they all returned to their native timelines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments: Created by Fabian Nicieza and Mark Bagley.

Since the Sphinx's and Sayge's profiles covers well the creation and eventual end of Earth-9105, this profile is actually a small attempt at that Earth's historiography -- the reason I ignored the appearances of Meryet Karim before the creation of Earth-9105, and did not go to great lengths about the first Sphinx. The cat she saved, by the way, crumbled to dust when she reverted the Earth, for he was a part of the false world of Forever Yesterday.

Why is the history of Earth-9105 so similar to a world not dominated by Egypt?
An explanation, by Flank McLargehuge

I agree it's impossible to know for sure without being the writer in question, but I think we can analyze the facts present and make the best-informed decision, rather than going 'it's best not to think about it'.  The dillema here is whether EARTH-FOREVER YESTERDAY is an altered present (i.e. EARTH-MORGAN, EARTH-KULAN GATH) or an altered past (i.e. EARTH-AGE OF APOCALYPSE).  I vote altered present.  We've
seen that the Ka stone has that power -- the male Sphinx has twice changed present-day Egypt into 'Egypt as it always should have been' (FF#~212, "Time and Time Again" in NEW WARRIORS), and it presents the
simplest, cleanest answers to most of the thorny questions raised:

1.  E:FE's history almost perfectly parallels Earth-616's history.
Altered Present:  Memories and records are altered; it's easier to revamp history to create an entirely new one, and Meryet didn't even seem to know what she's doing. 
Altered Past:  Not much creativity?
Any other answers?

2.  'Real' MU knowledge bleeds into E;FE, and vice versa -- Nova suddenly unconsciously knows Marvel Man's name, and Marvel Boy, Firestar, Nova and Night Thrasher retain some memories of E;FE when the world is reset.  Altered Present:  The memories are still there, just buried; the same kind of thing happened on EARTH-MORGAN.
Altered Past:  ?  On EARTH-AOA Bishop was the only one who remembered the real world, and him only because he experienced it.

There is one problem with it:

3.  There are dead characters present.  However, their names are different -- Dwayne's parents are named Deir (instead of Darryl) and Claire (instead of Melody), and the Richards have a baby daughter named Alicia.  Besides Jarvis/Jamal, is there anyone else whose real name is different?  Anyone have any explanations?

Changes in Membership

While Storm is missing from the Avengers team summoned by the Time-Keepers, Hulk (previously seen as a member of the MLF in the Forever Yesterday timeline) is now part of the team. Also present are alternate versions of Giant-Man, Scarlet Witch, Jocasta, Thor, Hawkeye and Blue Shield who may be inhabitants of Earth-9105 or other timelines.

Any ideas as to why Hulk is suddenly one of the bad guys where as in NW he sided with the mutants?

Probably because it was the last two issues of Avengers Forever. As you will recall, the main plot involved a number of militaristic cults mirroring specific Avengers, including Thor, Cap and Iron Man.  The final battle involved lots of people from many alternate realities that were called "Avengers", whatever their goals happened to be.
Given the context (and the previous Avengers Annual I#2, featuring the Scarlet Centurion manipulating an alternate reality's founder Avengers) I fully expect, almost demand really, that each founding Avenger would have a malign counterpart present.
Come to think of it, the villainous Hulk from Avengers Forever#11-12 was probably taken from that GS/Annual, or a closely
related timeline.

Something interesting about Captain Assyria; it was mentioned that he knew Wolverine during the Second Great War. If the Second Great War of Earth-9105 happened circa 1945 C.E. (although, since apparently neither Christianity or Islam existed on Earth-Forever-Yesterday, neither the Anno Hejira or Anno Domini calenders came into use there), then that raises interesting questions about Captain Assyria's history:
Was he put on ice similar to how Captain America was on Earth-616? Presumably, since the Nazis did not exist on Earth-Forever-Yesterday, Dekker and Baron Zemo did not exist on Earth-Forever-Yesterday, at least not as war criminals. Perhaps Captain Assyria got put on ice after an encounter with Japanese Shinto Imperialists? After all, although some sources state that the Nazis took their racism from Moses, the Japanese Shinto Imperialists did not, so  they could still have existed.    

To jump back on the issue of religions, the murder of Moses, as noted above, would have prevented the rise of the monotheistic religions such as Islam or Christianity. So, Egypt would have stayed polytheistic. However, something very odd occurs on page 6 of New Warriors I#11, as Captain Assyria says "What I do, I do for God and country!". That is something a monotheist would say, not a polytheist! The presence of Horus on the Avengers, as well as dialogue on page 29 ("Reed-What in Set's name are you thinking?) indicates, however, that the United States of Assyria was probably polytheistic.

To make things even more confusing, if Egypt never turned monotheistic, Egypt would have never become Arabic, because the ancient Egyptians were not Arabs, but rather Stygians (see below). The language of the ancient Egyptians was not related to Arabic. However, on page 10 of New Warriors I#10, the butler of the Avengers is called Jamaal-an Arabic name!

Moses appears in this storyline. This is interesting. Although Marvel editors generally attempt to shy away from using Biblical characters, a few things have leaked through. Moses' enimity with the Sphinx was established as far back as Nova I#7. Marvel Preview#19 established that Moses' staff eventually came into the possession of Solomon Kane. Kane used this staff in many stories, including the Sword of Solomon Kane mini-series.

In the Marvel Universe, the people of Bêlit of Shem (Shem was a country during the Hyborian Age, Conan's time) were the ancestors of the Jews and Arabs. (Bêlit appeared in various issues of Conan the Barbarian I#58-100, Giant-Size Conan#1, Marvel Feature Presents Red Sonja#6-7, and Conan the Savage#2-4). The word Semite comes from the word Shem. Bêlit's people were not, by the way, monotheists, but actually polytheists, worshipping Ishtar, Pteor, Tammuz, Bel, and other such gods. The ancestors of the Egyptians in the Hyborian Age were the Stygians. (Ancient Egyptians did not speak a language related to Arabic; in fact, Egypt did not become Arabic until 642 AD.)

I'd slate Abraham (the great-grandfather of Judah, the first Jew) as having lived after the Hyborian era, once the people of Shem became the Hebrews (but, as this occurred before Judah, not the Jews) and other Semitic language peoples. Moses did not emerge until about 400 years after the death of Judah according to the Hebrew Bible. Since the genealogies given in the Hebrew Bible go no further than about 4500 years ago, the events can be slotted comfortably after the Hyborian era. In any event, the Semites would not have become monotheistic untill after the Hyborian Age.-- DocSavage80

On Moses in particular; Comicartville has an article on an odd title: Bible Tales for Children/For Young People, published by Atlas. This may have served as Moses' first Marvel appearance in Bible Tales For Young Folk#3 (December, 1953).

The Mutant Liberation Front was mistakenly called the Mutant Liberation Force on page 1 of New Warriors I#12.
--James Sharpe

Thanks to Loki for adding a few missed MLF members.

Profile by Cisco

CLARIFICATIONS:
Sphinx, Meryet Karim, should not be confused with:

Nova, Richard Rider, should not be confused with:

Fabian Nicieza should not be confused with:

Avengers

The Earth-9105 Avengers were a government's task force, and loyal to Sphinx to the very end. They resided at Avengers Mansion, and had a butler called Jamaal (his eye-patch might be a reference to Jarvis wounds at the hands of Mr. Hyde in Earth-616). The Avengers were Sceptre (Monica Rambeau, Earth-616's Photon), Iron Man (Tony Stark), Storm (Ororo Munroe), Captain Assyria (name unrevealed), the Heliopolan God Horus (who served as that team's Thor), and Nova (Richard Rider). All Avengers, save for Nova, were black; Horus and Storm were husband and wife; Sceptre and Iron Man were also involved. These Avengers were ruthless and violent; Horus did not hesitate to kill Logan. Nova, as described above, eventually betrayed the team and fought for the MLF. Later, in order to defeat the Avengers, the Time-Keepers used the Forever Crystal to summon the Avengers from their divergent reality to battle the Avengers summoned by Rick Jones. They were returned to their own time when Captain America destroyed the Forever Crystal.

--New Warriors I#11 (New Warriors I#11-13, Avengers Forever#11-12

Mutant Liberation Front

The Mutant Liberation Front was an underground organization that grouped not only mutants, but all sorts of people, super powered or not, who fought against the Sphinx's rule. Magneto and Sebastian Shaw were leaders, and among the main operatives seen are Cannonball, Cyclops, Beast, Juggernaut, Polaris, Marvel Man (Vance Astrovik), Commander Logan and Firestar. Also part of the MLF, in alphabetical order: Abomination, Angel, Banshee Blob, Colossus, Gargoyle, Havok, He (Adam Warlock), Hulk, the Human Torch, Human Torch (Frankie Raye), Mandrill, Nekra, Nightcrawler, Rogue, Sabretooth, Sandman, Scalphunter, Toad, Vector, Vision, White Queen, Wonder Man and X-Ray. Atlantis and the Asian-Pacific Union were allied with the MLF; the Taylors and the Richards were collaborated with them, and were murdered in the process. Sgt. Fury was an unseen collaborator.

--New Warriors I#11 (New Warriors I#11-13

Namorita

(New Warriors I#12)- Namorita was with Namor as a counsel in his meeting with Magnus and Emma Frost.

(New Warriors#13(bts)) - Namorita and her fellow Atlanteans attacked the Persian gulf to disrupt the vital flow of oil.

Night Thrasher

(New Warriors I#11-13) - Dwayne's father, Dier, had become head of the Taylor foundation at its corporate headquarters on Maqaman Island after coming home from the Vietnam war. One of his employee's, Reed Richards, had been working with the mutant rebels, and when Dier discovered this, despite his initial shock, he offered to help. He gathered his and Reeds family in the Taylor Towers to plan when the Sphinx's men attacked and killed them all except for one. Dwayne had managed to reach the service elevator but had still seen his family gunned down before his very eyes much as he had seen them killed by a mind-controlled Chord on earth 616 and he promised to get revenge.

Taking body armor and equipment from the security stockroom and putting it in a back pack, Dwayne headed for the Chrysler building, the home of the Sphinx. Claiming to be a systems analyst for the Taylor Foundation, he bluffed his way upstairs in an elevator. Freezing the elevator with an override keycard, Dwayne changed into the body armor. Armed not only with that, but knowledge of the security systems that his dad's company had built, Dwayne stepped out of the elevator on the top floor and knocked out the guards.

He came to the communications room, where he saw news reports of the mutant rebellion, and realized now was the time to strike. Spying the Sphinx's cat, which she cared for so much, he now had a way to hurt her in the same way she had by killing his family and friends. The Sphinx detected his presence and teleported herself to the Chrysler building to attack her intruder. She was about to kill Dwayne when Nova plucked him out of harms way. When Nova asked what Dwayne had done to upset the Sphinx, he explained that he had tried to hurt her cat. Nova then used the cat as leverage to make Sphinx alter reality back the way it should be. Dwayne reverted to normal.

images: (without ads)
New Warriors I#11, p2, pan3 (main & Avengers)
Avengers Forever#11, p12-13 (Avengers in Avengers Forever)
New Warriors I#12, p22, pan2 (Mutant Liberation Front)
New Warriors I#12, p13, pan2 (Namorita & Namor)
New Warriors I#13, p8, pan3 (Night Thrasher)

Appearances:
New Warriors I#11-13 (May-July, 1991) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Larry Mahlstedt (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Avengers Forever#11-12 (November, 1999 - February, 2000) - Kurt Busiek & Roger Stern (writer), Carlos Pacheco (pencils), Jesus Merino (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)

First Posted: 01/13/2003
Last updated: 12/18/2018

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

Back to Dimensions