EARTH-STALIN ROBOT
Type: Alternate (Divergent) Earth
Core Continuum Designation: Earth-9061
Environment: Earth-like
Usual means of access: Dimensional warp-technology
Dominant Life Form: Humans
Significant Inhabitants: Avengers, George Bush Sr., Captain America, Fantastic Four, Mikhail Gorbachev, Alicia Masters Grimm, Ben Grimm, Inner Circle of the Supreme Soviet, Iron Man, Dan Quayle, Reed Richards, Comrade Spinnsky, Josef Stalin, Stalin-robot, Thor
First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#341 (June 1990)
History: (Fantastic Four I#343 (fb))- Earth-9061 diverged from Earth-616 in 1944, when the Soviet Union crossed the Oder River and occupied all of Germany. Using Germany's added industrial capacity, the Soviets kept pace with U.S. military development. The Cold War was even more tense than on Earth-616.
(Fantastic Four
I#344 (fb, bts))- Stalin died in 1952, similar to the events of
his death on Earth-616. However, the Inner Circle of the Supreme
Soviet kept his death a secret. Wanting a puppet figure to rule
behind, they had a robot duplicate of Stalin created. However,
the robot was apparently either poorly programmed or developed
sentience, as it grew out of the Supreme Soviet's control. It
ravenously desired control of all of Europe, worsening the Cold
War. The public was told that Stalin used advanced technology
such as cybernetics to retard his aging, as the Stalin robot
refused to step down, and so remained dictator for decades
afterwards. It used a large suit of battle armor to protect
itself.
(Fantastic Four I#341 (fb, bts)- The Avengers (Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man as confirmed members) and Fantastic Four formed on Earth-9061, as on Earth-616. The membership of the Fantastic Four was comprised of Sue and Johnny Storm, Ben Grimm, and Reed Richards. At some point, Alicia Masters married Ben Grimm.
(Fantastic Four I#343 (fb, bts), Fantastic Four I#344 (fb,bts))- George Bush, Sr. died of pneumonia one year before the Earth-616 Fantastic Four arrived on Earth-9061. "Dan Quayle", the v.p., succeeded him to serve out the rest of his term-but the "Dan Quayle" who took power was apparently an android duplicate (see comments).
(Fantastic Four I#343 (fb, bts)- The Reed Richards native to Earth-9061 observed how the Cold War had spun out of control, with a nuclear showdown anticipated to happen soon. He took steps to save the world; he decrypted the U.S. military broadcast channels and set about creating electro-magnetic pulse generator guns that could neutralize nuclear weapons' computer systems. However, for unknown reasons, Richards had to leave with his teammates in a time bubble for another part of the multiverse.
(Fantastic Four I#341)- The Fantastic Four of
Earth-616, after heady adventures elsewhere in the multiverse in
their time-sled Rosebud II, arrived at the headquarters of the
Fantastic Four of Earth-9061. They did not pick up on the
difference. They watched the tv news, and learned of a private
meeting between the president and the Avengers. The Avengers met
with reporters afterwards.
The FF left the room just before a news bulletin came announcing "Quayle"'s ordering of all U.S. armed forces on full red alert. "Quayle" stated that unless Stalin ordered all mobile Soviet missiles pulled back from Greater Germany's borders, he would not relent.
(Fantastic Four I#343)- The members of the FF noted subtle differences in their headquarters. Elsewhere, "Quayle" found out that the Soviets had disconnected their end of the hot line between the White House and the Kremlin. Also, satellite intel showed large concentrations of Eastern Bloc troops along the Greater German Border. "Quayle" brought the U.S. military to Defcon One.
Elsewhere, Ben Grimm bought a newspaper. Reading it, and seeing an article referring to Quayle as president, he realized that he was not on Earth-616. Johnny Storm was also shocked to hear on the tv "Quayle" invoking emergency powers. Then the Earth-9061 Alicia Masters arrived and mistook Sharon Ventura for her spouse. The Earth-616 Fantastic Four explained their history, and Alicia reciprocated by explaining the history of Earth-9061.
Reed discovered what his counterpart had planned, and set out to use the EMP guns to neutralize the warheads of both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. The Fantastic Four set out to Greater Germany in a modified pogo plane.
(Fantastic Four I#344)- The FF of Earth-616 neutralized the warheads. Reed Richards called "Quayle" demanding six hours to set things right. "Quayle" agreed to three.
The Fantastic Four used Sue's invisibility powers, as well as having Ben flying low to avoid radar, to reach the Soviet Union. They commandeered a potato truck to reach Moscow. Arriving at the Kremlin, Reed used a device to detect the large power field he expected would go along with "Stalin"'s huge battle armor. They were accosted by troops led by Inner Circle member Comrade Spinnsky, who locked them inside the basement of the Kremlin-where "Stalin"'s Regeneration Pit was kept. The soldiers expected "Stalin" to slay the Fantastic Four easily.
The FF walked through the extensive network of tunnels underneath the Kremlin, finally coming into the room that held the Regeneration Pit. The Stalin robot attacked them with its battle exoskeleton. The Torch could not use his flame powers, as the Regeneration Pit was air-tight, and liberal use of his power would use up all the oxygen in it. However, this gave the idea to Sue of using her force field power to form a bubble around "Stalin"'s head to cut off his air supply. However, as "Stalin" was really a robot, he did not need to breathe. Finally, Richards took out "Stalin" with an EMP gun, which disrupted its exoskeleton's circuitry.
Richards revealed
that he had earlier surmised that "Stalin" was in fact
an android after seeing it on tv, due to the awkward way it spoke
and moved. The FF then reprogrammed the Stalin robot. Emerging
from the Pit, "Stalin" got out of its exoskeleton and
announced that he had been convinced by the FF of the need for
peace between the two superpowers. It stated that it and the
membership of the Supreme Soviet would resign. "Stalin"
named Gorbachev as his successor. "Stalin" then died.
The Fantastic Four prepared to leave the Kremlin. Ben Grimm came back after poking around the building. He mentioned that he had found a curious document. The FF returned to the Four Freedoms Plaza of Earth-9061, where Richards left notes explaining the situation for his counterpart. Also, Ben Grimm left something on the desk of the Reed Richards of Earth-9061.
Precisely when the Earth-616 Fantastic Four left Earth-9061, the native FF returned. Their Reed Richards discovered on his desk a top secret file, a feasibility study by the Department of Defense for replacing the vice president with an android.
Comments: Created by Walt Simonson.
Fantastic Four I#342 was a fill-in issue unrelated to the Earth-9061 saga. At the time of this story, Ben Grimm had been temporarily deprived of his Thing powers and form, while Sharon Ventura (aka Ms. Marvel and She-thing) had both.
When the Earth-616 Fantastic Four saw the
Earth-9061 Avengers on tv, they could not tell the
difference between them and the Earth-616 Avengers. However, if
the Soviets got as far as the Oder River in 1944, the history of
Captain America on Earth-9061 can be presumed as being
very different from that of Earth-616: specifically, if the US
were not still fighting the nazis at the time, Cap and Bucky may
not have had the fight with Baron (Heinrich) Zemo, which killed
Bucky and forze Cap. It remains possible that the Captain America
of Earth-9061 that the Earth-616 FF saw was, in fact, a
successor to Steve Rogers. Due to Marvel's sliding timescale, of
course, several decades separate the end of World War II and the
emergence of the modern age of heroes, so much could have gone on
inbetween on Earth-9061.
Or Zemo could have been a renegade, P.O.'d nazi who embarked
on the same mission anway--Snood.
I have presumed that the Earth-9061 Fantastic Four largely resembled the early version of the Earth-616 team, as the Alica Masters of Earth-9061 initially could not tell the difference between the two.
References to Gorbachev, Quayle, etc. may not be topical due to Earth-9061 being an alternate Earth. Perhaps for its history, these people were born later than on Earth-616.
The real Stalin and the Earth-616 Stalin died in 1953. The death of the Stalin of Earth-9061 in 1952 presents another point of divergence for this Earth. Further discussion of the real world history of Stalin can be found under the entry on Coldsteel, as linked below.
Incidentally, the replacement of Quayle is speculated based on the document Grimm found. Apparently, the same persons or persons who built the Stalin robot were contacted by the U.S. Department of Defense to do a similar job with Dan Quayle. Presumably, the Soviets discovered this through their intelligence networks or a traitor(s) within the android construction team.
Profile by Snood
Clarifications:
Earth-9061 should be distinguished from:
The Stalin-robot should be distinguished from:
images:
Other appearances:
Fantastic Four I#343-344 (August-September, 1990)
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Last Updated: 10/11/05
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