EARTH-YOUNG ARTHUR

Type: Alternate future Earth, @ 2093

Environment: Earth-like with technological advances
Core Continuum Designation: Earth-8912

Usual means of access: Magic and/or vibration attunement

Dominant Life Form: Humanity

Prominent Inhabitants: Dr. Doom, Iron Man (Andros Stark), Lady of the Lake, Merlin, Arthur Pendragon + parents

First Appearance: Iron Man I#249 (BTS), 250 (December, 1989)

History:
(Iron Man I#250 (fb)) - For centuries, Merlin was trapped in mystic slumber until the time that England would face its greatest threat and King Arthur would be reborn in a human form. Merlin's spell was also set so that Merlin would then be revived 17 years after the recreation of Arthur, to clue the young king in on his memories and purpose.

    In the world of 2093, crime was a thing of the past. No organized military or police forces existed or were seemingly necessary.

    The first part went off with out a hitch. Arthur was conceived, right on schedule; however, it seemed the unwitting couple chosen to parent him had career considerations. They had the embryo frozen until they felt they had time to care for the kid properly. As a result, when Merlin awakened, he found that Arthur was a youth, perhaps 8 years old. Knowing that the young Arthur could scarcely heft the sword Excalibre, let alone wield it in battle, Merlin devised a new plan.
    The threat was a team of the Dr. Doom and Iron Man of that timeline to utilize orbiting satellites (associated with the Strategic Defense Initiative, SDI) to wield a neutron weapon to wipe out @ 65.8% of the world's population so that they could then rule the world via an automated society. To combat this threat, Merlin sent back in time a pair of artifacts to lure together Dr. Doom and Iron Man (Tony Stark) of Earth-616 of the modern era. This pair was chosen both because of the nature of the threat, and because both had encountered Arthur and Camelot in the distant past.

(Iron Man I#249 (fb)) - Merlin's artifacts indeed drew together his two pawns, and they were pulled forward in time.

(Iron Man I#250) - Merlin met with Doom and Iron Man, explaining the current threat. Doom had no interest in being anyone's pawn and left to fulfill his own agenda. Wearing armored enhancements purchased from a shopping mall in that future, Iron Man flew to one of the satellites and observed a lethal assault in progress on an unspecified city. A group of Servo-Droids were dispatched to stop him, but Iron Man made short work of them. However, Andros Stark, the Iron Man of 2093, then engaged his predecessor, overpowering him and sending him crashing to the Earth. Only a special emergency pack purchased from Radio Shack™ saved him, though his armor was trashed.

    Meanwhile, Dr. Doom of Earth-616 had rapidly assembled a version of his own time machine and used it to bring some technology from this future era to his own--only to find that since magic had brought him to that future, only magic could send him back. In addition, Merlin explained that he could not bring anything back that he had not brought forward with him, nor could he go back without anything that had come with him--meaning since Iron Man was not willing to leave until the threat was resolved, Doom could not leave either.

    Young Arthur decided that they must find the Lady of the Lake for further assistance against the threat, only to find that the Lake had been paved over as the parking lot for a super-mall. Merlin restored a small portal into the Lake, from which the Lady of the Lake thrust forth the enchanted sword Excalibre. Merlin proclaimed that only a worthy champion could brandish the sword in Arthur's place. Doom assumed himself to be the obvious choice as he was of royal blood, yet he could not budge the sword. Instead, Iron Man lifted the sword into the air and was revealed as its champion, as the sword restored his armor.

    Arthur sent Iron Man to use Excalibre to destroy the "Death Platforms," while Doom went to sever the head of this heinous plot. Armed with the sword, Tony Stark made short work of Andros and dealt with the platforms as intended. Doom confronted his future counterpart and was disgusted to see how he had deteriorated  in 100 years. The future Doom used a weapon to immobilize his past self, but the modern era Doom broke free. Recalling how he himself had done the same thing a century ago, the future Doom offered no resistance as his past counterpart blasted him into oblivion.

    As Doom and Iron Man were returned to the modern era by Merlin's spell, Doom revealed that he had discovered Iron Man's secret identity: Tony Stark. However, as he could not bring anything back that he had not brought with him, the knowledge vanished upon returning to their native era. In fact, neither Stark nor Doom had any memory of their adventures in the future.

Comments: Created by David Michilinie and Bob Layton.
    The team supreme of Iron Man, IMHO.

So here's how I look at future worlds. This story was published in 1989, and the future world was over a century after that point in time. I prefer to lock those future eras in time, as well as lock their past modern eras in time, rather than sliding time as with Earth-616. This means that in Earth-Young Arthur, the "modern era" or "Age of Heroes" took place @ the last twenty years of the 20th century. The other way to look at would be that the events took place 100 years after the modern era, and that time slides forward paralleling the modern era. So, in 2004, it would have occurred @ 2110...that sort of thing. It's a moot point, but I prefer to take the year of the events of Earth-Young Arthur (2093) as literal, rather than topical.
    I'm not sure if my explanation makes the least bit of sense, but that's what I'm going with.

Clarifications:
No known connection to:

Throughout this story (and to be honest, most stories in the MU), the sword Excalibre is referred to as Excalibur. However, for the purpose of Clarification, I prefer to use the spelling Excalibre for the sword, to differentiate it from:

Dr. DOOM

 

Victor von Doom. He was the future incarnation of his Earth-616 counterpart, having survived well into his second century via modern science. He appeared to exist on a respirator, and his limbs were seemingly mechanical. He allied himself with Andros Stark in a plot to form an automated society to take over the world, but it might be guessed that given his memories from the past, he actually deliberately engineered his own demise.

 

--Iron Man I#250

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IRON MAN

Andros Stark. The grandson of Arno Stark (Iron Man 2020), he located his grandfather's armor for his own use in recent years. He allied himself with Doom in a plot to take over the world, knowing that he and Doom would each try to eliminate the other once they had no further use for the other. He easily overcame Tony Stark's armor in their first encounter, but he was no match for the sword Excalibre. Tony used it to disable Andros' armor and bring him back to Earth. Authorities were not sure what to do with Andros, as no prisons had existed for some time.

--Iron Man I#250

 

 

 

 

 

LADY of the LAKE

 

She continued to exist within Lake Benoye, in Benoye, France, even after it was paved over. When Merlin opened a portal to the lake, she thrust forth Excalibre, for a new champion to wield against the threats that confronted England.

 

--Iron Man I#250

 

It is unknown whether the Lady of the Lake seen in the Marvel Universe represents Niamh/Nimue or Vivienne/Nimue. Either or both are possible, though we suspect Niamh is the one that has been seen. See the relevant profiles for further discussion.

 

 

MERLIN

 

The future counterpart of Merlin/Merlyn, he had made preparations to return Arthur to save England as needed, though modern parenting capabilities foiled his plot somewhat. He then chose to bring forward Iron Man and Dr. Doom to deal with their future counterparts, returning them to the modern era after the mission was complete.

 

--Iron Man I#250 (250(fb), [249], 250

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

young Arthur Pendragon

 

The spirit of the legendary Arthur Pendragon of Camelot was reincarnated in a future child of England @ 2076, but as his parents had his embryo frozen for some time to allow them to pursue their career goals, he was less then 10 years old when Merlin's spell revived the wizard 17 years later. Under Merlin's guidance, young Arthur regained his full memories and wisdom, though he retained the physical limitations (and distractions) of his youth and size. He recalled specific events of an encounter with Iron Man back in Camelot that proved his identity.

 

His parents were held in stasis while young Arthur helped deal with the threat. The exact fate of young Arthur and his parents after the threat had been dealt with is unrevealed.

 

--Iron Man I#250

 

 

 

 

images:
Iron Man I#250, Cover (main image)
Iron Man I#250, p24, pan5 (Dr. Doom 2903 body shot)
Iron Man I#250, p25, pan2 (Dr. Doom 2903 head shot)
Iron Man I#250, p37, pan1 (Andros Stark)
Iron Man I#250, p17, pan3 (Iron Man 2903)
Iron Man I#250, p27, pan5 (Lady of the Lake)
Iron Man I#250, p4, pan2 (Merlin 2903 body shot)
Iron Man I#250, p37, pan3 (Merlin 2903 head shot)
Iron Man I#250, p7, pan5 (Arthur's parents)
Iron Man I#250, p7, pan2 (Arthur Pendragon 2903)

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Last Updated: 11/28/03

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