NULL BOMBNULL BOMB
Classification: Extraterrestrial (Rigellian) technology/weapon
Creator: Unrevealed (possibly the Rigellian Scientist Supreme)
First Appearance: Thor I#406 (August, 1989)
Powers/Abilities/Functions: The Null Bomb was designed to cause a super-implosion, which could eradicate all life within the bio-verse known as the Black Galaxy.
History:
(Thor
I#406 (fb) - BTS) - The Null Bomb was presumably created on the
replacement Rigel-3 following the Rigellians' claiming it subsequent to
the destruction of the previous Rigel-3 at the hands of the Rhunians.
Alternatively, it could have been created while the Rigellians were
spaceborne and without a world of their own (see comments).
(Avengers Annual#17 - BTS / Thor I#406 (fb) - BTS / Thor
I#407 (fb) - BTS) - At the conclusion of the "Evolutionary War,"
Hercules (Heracles/Alcaeus) and the High Evolutionary (Herbert Wyndham)
were super-evolved. While their fates are unrevealed, their cosmic
essences somehow merged with the Black Galaxy...and at some point,
their physical forms were contained and/or merged with what appeared to
be smaller versions of the heads of Celestials on a planetoid within
the Black Galaxy, where they watched over by the Celestial known as
Tefral the Surveyor.
(Thor
I#406 (fb) - BTS) - The Rigellian homeworld was plagued by earthquakes.
(Thor I#406) - An aide reported to the Grand Commissioner a recurrence of the earthquakes on their homeworld, noting that the seismograph indicated that the tremors grew more violent with each new assault. Concerned that their entire command planet would soon be in jeopardy and feeling that he needed to preserve their world at any cost, the Grand Commissioner traveled via the Rigellian matter transmitter to the Scientist Supreme's private laboratory in a planetoid in the asteroid belt.
After the Scientist
Supreme revealed the source of the mysterious upheavals to be
originating from mysterious upheavals within the nearby Black Galaxy,
the Grand Commissioner
-- considering the area to be the most dangerous and unexplored region
in the entire universe -- ordered the arming of the Null Bomb to
destroy the Black Galaxy in
order to save the Rigellian home world.
(Thor
I#406 - BTS) - The New Man (animals evolved into humanoid form by the
High Evolutionary) known as Count Tagar sent a group of the Knights of
Wundagore (including Sir Ferret and Sir Puma) alongside Thor and Kevin
Masterson into the Black Galaxy to search for the missing Hercules and
High Evolutionary;
therein they encountered immense, cosmic forms of their targets, whose
essences had apparently merged with the Black Galaxy.
(Thor
I#407 (fb) - BTS) - The Scientist Supreme dispatched Recorder#211 to
the Black Galaxy to objectively record the Null Bomb's use. 
(Thor I#407) - As another earthquake threatened their command planet, the Grand Commissioner advised the Scientist Supreme that it was his responsibility to put an end to these massive tremors. The Scientist Supreme reiterated the cause and the nature of the threat causing the tremors, and he advised the Grand Commissioner to employ the Null Bomb, which would eradicate all life within "that hated realm" (the Black Galaxy).
Acknowledging this, the Grand Commissioner ordered the bomb to be launched via the Matter Transmitter, after which he asked how they would know when the Null-Bomb had successfully completed its task. The Scientist Supreme replied that he already dispatched an observer (Recorder #211) to the Black Galaxy to objectively record the event. When the Grand Commissioner noted that the Null-Bomb would destroy all life, the Scientist Supreme assured his excellency that this being was also quite expendable.
(Thor I#407 (fb) - BTS) - The Null Bomb traveled into the Black Galaxy, eventually landing atop a plateau on a mist-covered planetoid...the same plateau and planetoid upon which the forms of Hercules and the High Evolutionary were contained.
(Thor
I#407 - BTS) - Encountering Thor and the space-suit-wearing Eric
Masterson, the Recorder informed Thor that the involvement of Hercules
and the High Evolutionary were likely the cause of the upheavals
affecting Rigel-3 and that his masters -- because of these upheavals --
had sent a Null Bomb to destroy the Black Galaxy. When Thor argued that
the living bio-verse was unique in all of creation and must be
preserved, the Recorder replied that the odds of Thor stopping the bomb
and saving his friends were 4,572,3683
to 1. However, the Recorder continued that if those odds could be
beaten, it could only be done by Thor, and that he would aid Thor in
any way that he could. 
After Thor summoned and donned his
armor (constructed and worn when Hela had cursed his bones to be
brittle), the Recorder used his derma-circuits to lead them directly to
the Null Bomb. En route,the Knights of Wundagore were wiped out by
"highly toxic, giant viruses," "space stingrays," and a membrane
causing a being to instantly age centuries. Thor futilely dove through
the membrane to save him and was aged as well (Thor's Asgardian
longevity allowed him to weather this aging with little effect beyond
growing a beard).
Finally, the Recorder noted that
the Null Bomb was located on a mist-covered planetoid, to which they
traveled, but as the Recorder sought to precisely locate the bomb, they
were assaulted by acid-secreting, "floating rocks" (although they
looked like jellyfish-like creatures), which Thor recognized from
having encountered them within Exitar the Celestial previously. Thor
caused a wind to disperse these creatures, but not before they
destroyed Masterson's environmental suit as well as the
lower half of the Recorder. Nonetheless, the Recorder located the Null
Bomb atop a nearby plateau. When the Recorder stated that its damaged
form would not survive the rigors of flight, Thor carried the pair to
the top of the plateau.
(Thor
I#407) - There
they found not only the Null Bomb, but also Tefral, as well as a number
of what appeared to be miniature Celestial heads surrounding the bomb
on the side opposite Tefral.
As the Recorder's derma-circuits
strained to accurately record this incomprehensible input, his
sensitizer suddenly detected that the Null Bomb would detonate in
exactly five seconds.
Flying above the bomb, Thor used
his hammer, Mjolnir, to drain the bomb's null energy and then direct it
into a single, irresistible torrent of cosmic force, which he then
re-directed out into space. Within an instant, it passed through the
bio-verse, pierced the veil of the Black Galaxy, and then entered "the
physical universe." Continuing its mad rush through time and space, the
blast continued until it collided with a dying sun. "In a paroxysm of unmeasurable fury," the sun was reignited, and seven populated worlds were given a second chance at life.
Now defused, the Null Bomb remained standing harmlessly.
Following the sound of Hercules' and the High Evolutionary's voices, Thor -- despite the approach of Tefral's massive hand -- then shattered the pair of the seemingly helmets from which the voices issued. Just as Thor struck, Tefral fired a blast from its hand at him, sending Thor and his allies, as well as a chunk of the planetoid on which they had been standing. After hours, the fragment stopped its travel, and those atop if revived, appreciating that Hercules and the High Evolutionary had been restored to corporeal form and that the Recorder's damaged body had been restored.
(Thor I#407 (fb) - BTS) - Via his internal circuitry, the Recorder informed his masters and requested a spaceship. While displeased with the resolution of the Null-Bomb, they eagerly awaited the Recorder's full report.
(Thor I#407 - BTS) - The Recorder informed his allies of these developments, after which he noted that while he had faithfully observed and recorded all that had occurred, he could draw no logical conclusions from it. Thor replied, "Methinks there be certain truths that are utterly beyond the ken of mortal and machine...and e'en the gods themselves."
(Thor I#408 - BTS) - Thor, Hercules, the High Evolutionary, and Eric Masterson returned to the High Evolutionary's Citadel of Science.
Comments: Created by Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz, and Joe Sinnott.
If they had a weapon that could
implode the entire Black Galaxy, which did they fear it in the first
place when Ego threatened them, and then why didn't they use it against
the Black Stars / Rhunians?
Perhaps it was not created until after Rigel-3's
destruction...and perhaps the technology that created it and/or its
power source could not be replicated, which would be why they could not
create another one?
The Null Bomb was not seen after Tefral blasted away the section of the planetoid containing Thor and his allies.
The Black Galaxy is on my radar to profile, but not until after I finish off the Rigellians and a few others. So, 4,572,3683 = roughly 9.5 x 1019 = 95 quintillion (95,000,000,000,000,000,000).
For such seemingly insurmountable odds, Thor sure
stopped the bomb easily enough.
Some of his "friends" (specifically,
the Knights of Wundagore, who planned to betray him anyway to gain cell
samples from) were slain, and the Recorder was torn in half (but
subsequently restored by a Celestial), but that was largely by Black
Galaxy creatures before Thor got to the bomb...
...but perhaps that does
count as a failure to some degree.
Yes,
that's right, mathematically speaking - assuming Recorders count in base 10 of
course.
Any higher base would only make the odds worse though, and it can't a
base lower than base 9 if there's a digit of 8 in the running, so any way you
figure it, those are ridiculously long odds.
All I can suggest is that the
attached quote from author Terry Pratchett, which comes from his Discworld
books and refers to worlds full of magic and gods, is presumably equally
pertinent in Marvel, which is full of magic and gods.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Null-Bomb should be distinguished from:
 
(Thor
I#407) - Flying above the Null Bomb, Thor used his hammer,
Mjolnir, to drain the bomb's null energy and then direct it into a
single, irresistible torrent of cosmic force, which he then re-directed
out into space. Within an instant, it passed through the bio-verse,
pierced the veil of the Black Galaxy, and then entered "the physical
universe." Continuing its mad rush through time and space, the blast
continued until it collided with a dying sun. "In a paroxysm of unmeasurable fury," the sun was reignited, and seven populated worlds were given a second chance at life. --Thor I#407Note: We don't know anything about the populated worlds or their inhabitants beyond what was stated above. |
images: (without ads):
Thor I#407, pg. 5, panel 2 (Null-Bomb - full);
panel 3 (Null-Bomb transported away by Matter Transmitter);
pg. 14, panel 3 (mist-covered planetoid on which the Null Bomb was located);
pg. 15, panel 5 (plateau atop which the Null Bomb was located);
pg. 17, panel 2 (Null Bomb with Tefral);
pg. 18, panel 6-7 (force from the null-bomb directed into and re-energizing a dying sun);
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
First posted: 01/05/2024
Last updated: 01/06/2024
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