the UNITED FEDERATION of EARTH
(from Reality-691)
Membership: Terrans from Earth; Mercurians from the colony on Mercury; Jovians from the Floating Cities of Jupiter; Pluvians from the colony on Pluto/Charon; humans and Centaurians from the planet Centauri IV in the Alpha Centauri star system
Purpose: To solve mutual problems facing Earth and its four colonies, and (presumably) to provide for mutual defense against outside threats
Aliases: United Lands of Earth, the U.L.E. Federation (see comments)
Affiliations: None
Enemies: The Brotherhood of Badoon
Base of Operations: Sol star system and (part of?) the Alpha Centauri star system
First Appearance: (As the United Lands of Earth Federation) Marvel Super-Heroes II#18
(January, 1969);
(as United Federation of Earth) Defenders I#26 (August, 1975)
History:
(Amazing Adventures II#18 (fb)) <1901> - The Martians first attacked Earth, with their initial invasion
force landing in a quiet field outside London, England. Using their army of hundreds of tripod war machines,
each equipped with advanced directed-energy weapons, the Martian invaders swiftly marched across England, with
no human-built weapons being capable of stopping them. However, the invasion came to a sudden end when all of
the Martians died, one by one, when they fell victim to the germs and bacteria of Earth to which they, unlike
humans, had never evolved an immunity.
(Marvel Two-In-One#5 (fb) - BTS/Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#12: Vance Astro entry) <July 3, 1962> - Vance Astrovik was born in Saugerties, New York, the son and only child of Arnold and Norma Astrovik.
(Marvel Presents#8 (fb) - BTS) <1966-ish> - When Galactus came to Earth to consume it, the Silver Surfer rebelled against him and helped the Fantastic Four save the planet and everybody on it. Young Vance Astrovik read the newspaper headlines and watched the TV news bulletins and the special reports.
(Marvel Two-In-One#5 (fb) - BTS) <1972> - A ten-year-old Vance Astrovik once personally saw Captain America in action with his then-partner the Falcon.
(Marvel Presents#8 (fb)) - In the late 20th century (c. 1973?), the Brotherhood of Badoon made its first attempt to conquer Earth. Although their technology enabled them to make themselves and their machines invisible, the Silver Surfer was able to see them. The Surfer was initially deceived by their claims of benevolence but, once their true nature was exposed, he fought them and their ultimate weapon, the Monster of Badoon, without realizing that it was also invisible to the watching humans. Ironically, it was an attack by the US military upon the Silver Surfer which thwarted the invasion because the missiles aimed at the Surfer actually struck the forcefield protecting the Badoon starship, causing the Brother Royal to believe that their invisibility had failed and that the humans were able to see them. Unwilling to try to conquer humanity if they could fight back, the Badoon fled. Nobody on Earth was aware that the Silver Surfer had saved them again.
(Giant-Size Defenders#5 - BTS / Defenders I#26 - BTS) <1975> - A thirteen-year-old Vance Astrovik did not see a flying saucer crash in the woods near his home. He also did not investigate the crash site and did not meet the Guardians of the Galaxy from the future or the present-day Defenders. Those events happened in the alternate timeline of Earth-616.
(Giant-Size Defenders#5 (fb) - BTS / Official Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#12: Vance Astro entry) <1980> - Sometime after his eighteenth birthday, Vance Astrovik joined the United States Air Force.
(Defenders I#26 (fb) / Marvel Presents#4: letters page) <1982> - The Ozone Catastrophe began when Earth's ozone layer, damaged by fluorocarbon gases released into the atmosphere from aerosol cans, became weak enough that it no longer prevented the sun's ultraviolet radiation from reaching the ground unfiltered. The radiation caused the first skin cancer epidemic in 1982 and it became necessary for humans to wear sun-suits if they were going outside. The radiation also caused enormous crop failures, forcing all indoor agricultural space to be given over to food crops. Despite this, the planet was plunged into a near-famine.
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#12: Vance Astro entry) <1983> - Sometime after his twenty-first birthday, Vance Astrovik legally changed his last name to "Astro."
(Defenders I#26 (fb) / Marvel Presents#4: letters page) - To repair the people whose bodies were being eaten away bit-by-bit, monies were averted from social welfare and non-essential scientific programs into the development of bionics to provide mechanical replacements for destroyed limbs.
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#12: Vance Astro entry) - Vance became the youngest man to be accepted into the astronaut training program.
(Defenders I#26 (fb) / Marvel Presents#4: AOCIWH text) - The continued research into bionics led to the nations of the world increasingly using cyborgs in their armies.
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#18 (fb) - BTS) - By the year 1988, Earthmen had established a small Moon colony, and the first landings on Mars had taken place.(see comments)
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#18 (fb) / Astonishing Tales#29 (fb) - BTS / Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#12: Vance Astro entry) <1988> - Major Vance Astro volunteered for the first manned interstellar mission ever conducted by the United States. After he was accepted into Project Starjump, Astro's body was prepared so that he could survive being in a state of suspended animation for a thousand years, something that was required if he was to travel to the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri. His spaceship, Odysseus I, was launched from the Houston Spaceport in the fall of 1988.
(Defenders I#26 (fb) / Marvel Presents#4: AOCIWH text) <1990s> - The dwindling food supply led to the Bionics Wars in which armies of man-machines battled each other for food for their nations.
(Defenders I#26 (fb) / Marvel Presents#4: AOCIWH text) <1995> - A nuclear fission power plant exploded and rendered the western half of Canada uninhabitable. This sudden, undeniable, highly visible catastrophe resulted in worldwide public outcry, a plea for sanity from the masses, coupled with the threat of violent revolution should the nations not come to their senses. That same year, the leaders complied and ended the Bionics Wars. The leaders also signed the Treaty of Peking that established the first Confederation of Nations.
(Defenders I#26 (fb) / Marvel Presents#4: AOCIWH text) - In the aftermath of the war, humanity decided to work together and turn their technology away from the mindless proliferation of weaponry to put it to use for people. Reconstruction of the cities was begun in a spirit of cooperation between peoples and, with humankind united, it was the realization of a dream.
(Amazing Adventures II#38 (fb) - BTS) <1999> - During the Mars Launch of that year, a male American astronaut whose name has never been revealed was sent up, unshielded, through the cosmic rays about Mars. The astronaut, who somehow later returned to Earth, was changed by his exposure to cosmic radiation and became the Dreamer.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#9 (fb)) - Despite this harmony, anti-mutant prejudice eventually became strong enough for Earth's political leaders to pass a decree against the mutants and send an army of Sentinel robots to obliterate them. After many mutants had been slain by the Sentinels, Magneto was able to convince most of the surviving mutants to join him in leaving Earth to find a safe haven in the stars.
(Amazing Adventures II#18 (fb) / Defenders I#26 (fb) / Marvel Presents#4: AOCIWH text / Marvel
Graphic Novel No. 7: Killraven, Warrior of the Worlds (fb) - BTS / Guardians of the Galaxy I#2 (fb) - BTS)
<June 29, 2001> - The "Martian Masters" launched a surprise attack on Earth. In what was later known
as the One Night War, the Martian were able to remotely cause every nuclear weapon on the planet to overload
and melt into slag.
Mankind then tried to use biological warfare against the invaders but they, having learned
from their previous defeat, had developed an all-purpose immunity that protected them, something that humanity
had not done. Although the humans occasionally managed to destroy a tripod, there were always more to replace
them, and the Martians quickly conquered all of Earth.
Even Earth's many super-beings were unable to stop
the Martian conquest.
(Defenders I#26 (fb) / Marvel Presents#4: AOCIWH text) - As a result of the Martian conquest, the cities of Earth crumbled, Terran science died, and human civilization collapsed. The human population was all but obliterated, as the Martians bred men and women for consumption as foodstuff.
(Defenders I#26 (fb)/Marvel Presents#4: AOCIWH text) - By 2075 A.D., the Martians had abandoned Earth, leaving human civilization in ruins. This power vacuum was filled by human warlords who used what technology remained to establish feudal city-states which they ruled as the so-called Techno-Barons. With all scientific knowledge kept highly centralized in those city-states, most of the next five hundred years was a barbaric period where most of humanity lived as serfs serving human masters.
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#18 (fb) - BTS/Marvel Presents#4: AOCIWH text) - About two hundred years after Major Astro left Earth, a physicist named Harkov made a theoretical breakthrough that could make faster-than-light interstellar travel a reality. However, at the time there was no way to practically apply Harkov's theory.
(Defenders I#26 (fb) - BTS) - During the reign of the Techno-Barons, genetic engineering techniques were developed that could be used to breed sub-species of humans.
(Defenders I#26 (fb)/Marvel Presents#4: AOCIWH text) <c. 2525 A.D.> - The Techno-Barons eventually decided to go to war with each other for possession of the Moon. However, their attempt to conscript the unwilling serfs into fighting their war triggered a widespread rebellion that led to every Techno-Baron being overthrown. With the execution of the tyrant Kwaal in 2525, the reign of the Techno-Barons ended. It was during this serf revolt that the papers on which Harkov's theory had been recorded were lost.
(Defenders I#26 (fb) / Marvel Presents#4: AOCIWH text) - Following their successful revolution, the serfs took control and restored communications between the city-states. By 2530, a second world federation had been established as humanity began to reach for the stars.
(Marvel Presents#3 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, the city of New Moscow may have been chosen to be the capital of the world government. If so, then Federation Hall may have been that government's capitol building (see comments).
(Defenders I#26 (fb)/Marvel Presents#4: AOCIWH text) - Mankind began to explore their solar system and, eventually, began to colonize it, using the genetic engineering developed under the Techno-Barons to breed three different sub-species of humanity: the Mercurians, the Jovians and the Pluvians.
(Defenders I#26 (fb)/Marvel Presents#4: AOCIWH text) - By the year 2800, Pluto had been colonized, teleport service was in use between the inner planets, and the first space Militia had been inaugurated to safeguard interplanetary trading.
(Marvel Presents#4: AOCIWH text) - Fifty years later, Harkov's papers were uncovered in an archeological dig, and the secret that had eluded mankind for centuries had at last been found. However, there was still no means for its practical application.
(Marvel Presents#3: letters page/Marvel Presents#4: AOCIWH text) - Fifty years after Harkov's papers had been found, the fuel required to make the Harkovian hyperdrive work was found in sufficient quantities in the core of the planet Mercury.
(Marvel Presents#4: AOCIWH text) <2908 A.D.> - The first Terran starship to be equipped with a Harkovian hyperdrive, Andromeda, was constructed, but it perished on its maiden voyage upon entering the Proxima Centauri anti-matter star-system.
(Defenders I#26 (fb)) - By the mid-2900s, humanity had undertaken construction of their first starship fleet.
(Marvel Presents#4: AOCIWH text) <2940 A.D.> - Humans from Earth made their first successful interstellar voyage and arrived in the Alpha Centauri system. Once there, they proceeded to found the first interstellar/extrasolar Terran colony on the planet Centauri-IV, the homeworld of the blue-skinned Centaurians.
(Defenders I#26 (fb)) <By 2960 A.D.> - Terrans had reached the nearest star-system to their own (i.e., Alpha Centauri) and established their first friendly contact with an alien race, the Centaurians.
(Guardians of the Galaxy Annual I#1/2 (fb) - BTS) <2977 A.D.> - At this time, there was trouble in the colonies, manifesting in the form of Pluvian separatists and Mercurian insurrectionists. Some Earthmen considered those genetically-engineered human sub-species to be "Gene-jokes," a derogatory term that had previously been used to refer to the long-gone mutants.
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#18 (fb) - BTS/Guardians of the Galaxy I#26 (fb) - BTS) - Although they were all genetically-engineered offshoots of Earthmen, racial prejudice also existed between those sub-species. Some Jovians took to calling the Pluvians by the derogatory term "Rock heads."
Meanwhile, back in interstellar space:
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#12: Vance Astro entry/Guardians of the Galaxy
I#26 (fb)) - During his long voyage, Vance Astro was periodically awakened from suspended animation in order to
perform routine course adjustments and/or routine ship maintenance. The loneliness that Astro experienced during
these waking periods caused him to go insane, but he always returned to a semblance of normality after the ship
automatically put him back under suspended animation again.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#26 (fb)) - The tiny capsule continued to plunge through the void, heading inexorably toward Beta Centauri. Astro would later feel as if some unseen hand were guiding it, never knowing that Starhawk had secretly been ensuring that he reached Alpha Centauri.
(Defenders I#26 (fb)/Marvel Presents#4: AOCIWH text) <3000 A.D.> - Earth and the four colonies joined together as co-equal partners in a new political union, the United Federation of Earth, which included all the nations of Earth. This was considered to be the beginning of a new "Golden Age" for mankind.
(Marvel Presents#3 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, the city of New Moscow may have been chosen to be the capital of the world government. If so, then Federation Hall may have been that government's capitol building (see comments).
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#18 (fb) / Marvel Two-In-One#5 (fb) / Defenders I#26 (fb) / Marvel Presents#4: AOCIWH text / Guardians of the Galaxy I#26 (fb)) <3006 A.D.> - After arriving in the Alpha Centauri star system, Vance Astro's ship automatically landed on the surface of the planet Centauri-IV. When Major Astro opened his craft's door and emerged onto the planet, he was shocked to find a crowd of Earthmen and native Centaurians waiting to welcome him. One of his human welcomers explained how Harkovian physics, which allowed for the possibility of faster-than-light travel, had been discovered two hundred years after Astro had left Earth, but that there had been no way of interrupting his journey by intercepting his flight. Realizing that he had thrown away everything in his life for nothing, Astro had a manic breakdown.
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#18 (fb) / Defenders I#26 (fb) / Marvel Presents#4: AOCIWH text) - Later that same year, the Centauri-IV colony was attacked and destroyed by the reptilian race known as the Brotherhood of Badoon.
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#18 (fb) / Defenders I#26 (fb) / Marvel Presents#4: AOCIWH text) <3007 A.D.> - Less than a year later, the Badoon had destroyed the colonies on Pluto, Mercury and Jupiter, killing (almost) their entire populations. They then attacked and captured Earth where they eradicated most of the population, leaving only fifty million humans alive as prisoners or slaves.
(Marvel Super-Heroes II#18 (fb)/Defenders I#26 (fb)/Marvel Presents#4: AOCIWH text) - By late 3007, four "last survivors" of the colonies (Major Vance Astro, Yondu Udonta, Charlie-27 and Martinex T'Naga) had banded together as the Guardians of the Galaxy.
(Marvel Presents#3 (fb) - BTS/Guardians of the Galaxy I#17 (fb) - BTS) <3015 A.D.> - Following the defeat of the Brotherhood of Badoon and their removal from Earth by the Sisterhood of Badoon, the planet came under the rule of the Earth-Gov. Since the colonies on Mercury, Jupiter and Pluto had been depopulated by the Badoon, the only extraplanetary territory that remained under its control was the enslaved colony of Luna.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#17 (fb) - BTS) <3016 A.D.> - Thanks to the introduction of the addictive holo-vid known as Realitee-Vee, the older generation of humans died, leaving the younger generation to take to the streets and begin fighting a worldwide Turf War. With most cities on Earth reduced to ruins by the fighting, human civilization collapsed again. The anarchy on Earth enabled the Luna colony to secede from the Earth-Gov without any violence.
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#39) <3018 A.D.> - Tarin was elected to be the President of the Northeast Corridor, and Old Redd was elected to be her Vice President.
Comments: Created (as the United Lands of Earth Federation) by Arnold Drake, Gene Colan
and Mickey Demeo.
Revised (as the United Federation of Earth) by Steve Gerber, Sal Buscema
and V. Colletta.
If you've read this entire profile, then you've undoubtedly noticed that only a single paragraph makes any reference at all to the United Federation of Earth. This is not a mistake. In all the stories about the original Guardians of the Galaxy that have ever been published, only two comics have ever mentioned it. It was first referenced in a single panel in Defenders I#26 and again in the text entitled "An Outline Course in World History 1975-3015 A.D." that was presented in the letters page of Marvel Presents#4, but that's all. Sure, the United Federation of Earth was invaded by the Brotherhood of Badoon who destroyed all of their colonies and slaughtered millions or billions of their citizens, but the few stories which depict any of those events don't even mention this government or what actions it took while trying to defend its people from the Badoon invasion and conquest. So, since it's hard to write a profile based on so little source material, I chose to include a more detailed history of Earth-691 in order to provide some context. Doing so has allowed me to mention the two precursors to the United Federation of Earth, the Confederation of Nations (1995-2001) and the second World Federation (c. 2535-3000), both of which have been just as absent from stories set in the Earth-691 timeline as the United Federation of Earth.
Exactly what nations existed in this future timeline?
Human civilization on Earth-691 was MASSIVELY disrupted by the Martian invasion
and occupation, and the subsequent reign of the Techno-Barons kept humanity isolated in feudal city-states for
centuries. Accordingly, it's perhaps not surprising that few Guardians of the Galaxy stories make any references
to countries that existed in the time after the Martian occupation. None of the city-states ruled by the
Techno-Barons have ever been named, and neither were any of the "nations of earth" who allied with all of
Earth's colonies to form the United Federation of Earth. While a number of modern-day cities (like New York,
Chicago, Berlin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo and Beijing) were all seen or mentioned in stories
set in the early 31st century, there weren't any references made to the nations within which they
existed. Sure, maybe a revived United States of America existed in that time, but it was never mentioned by
name. Although the only country that was explicitly referenced by name was the island-nation of Madripoor,
Latveria was implied (and later confirmed) to still exist in eastern Europe. A third possibility is Australia,
since Sydney was described as being a seaport in southeast Australia, but that could have been a reference
to the continent instead of the nation-state.
Although some online sources seem to think that the United States of America did still exist in that time, I don't know of any explicit references that would confirm that idea. The presence of cities named New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco could be taken as implying the continued existence of the USA, but it's hardly conclusive. After all, Tarin was elected to the presidency of the Northeast Corridor, an area of North America that was described (in Galactic Guardians#2) as stretching "from Lower Canada to the Baltimore Ruins" and was presented as being the only part of (eastern) North America that was not a barren, radioactive wasteland incapable of supporting human life.
One thing that REALLY didn't help was the fact that the last writer on the original GOTG series seems to have not done much research on Earth-691 before he started writing. While Steve Gerber wrote scenes that were set in five modern-day cities that had survived into the 31st century and Jim Valentino added some other cities, as well as the countries of Madripoor and Latveria, Michael Gallagher's stories portrayed an Earth that had remained largely devastated since the Martian invasion. Aside from creating the Northeast Corridor concept and revealing that the cities of Chicago, Detroit and Milwaukee had all been vaporized "long ago" by plasmo-nucleonic bombs during the Final War, Gallagher also established that, except for Latveria, Europe was in a similarly bad shape, with Germany, France, Spain, Greece and the rest still being uninhabitable after having also been destroyed long ago. The differences are so extreme that it's enough to make one wonder if the Guardians who left Earth-616 in GOTG I#32 did actually return to their proper future in the next issue. From a continuity standpoint, it would certainly make things easier if the "Earth-691" seen in the last 30 issues of the original GOTG series had actually been some variant of the "real" Earth-691. Sadly, that's (probably) just wishful thinking on my part.
Of which "world government" was the city of New Moscow the capital?
According to the Omniscient Narrative in Marvel Presents#3, the city of New
Moscow was the capital of the world government and the place where a building known as Federation Hall was
located. Also, the Badoon had "lately" been using the main rotunda of Federation Hall as their Throne Chamber
when they were defeated in 3015 A.D. Unfortunately, since no further details have ever been provided, it has
never been established when New Moscow became that capital. As such, it's impossible to determine if New
Moscow was the capital of the World Federation or if it was the capital of the United Federation of Earth.
Maybe it was the capital of both of these federations?
How powerful were these four worldwide organizations?
Perhaps the greatest weakness of the continuity in which the original Guardians
of the Galaxy exist is how very little detailed information has been revealed about that timeline. Aside from
the adventures of Killraven and his band of Freemen from 2018 A.D. to 2020 A.D., virtually all data is incredibly
vague and consists of things like genetic engineering was used to create the Mercurian, Jovian and Pluvian races
sometime after 2530 A.D. but before 2800 A.D. Even the most recent summary of the history of Earth-691, provided
in the profile of the Guardians of the Galaxy in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes
2005, was essentially a retellings of events described in the AN OUTLINE COURSE OF WORLD HISTORY 1975-3015 A.D.
text page by Steve Gerber that was presented in Marvel Presents#4 almost fifty years ago. The reason why this
history remains so vague is that no one has bothered to do anything with that timeline since the original
Guardians of the Galaxy series was cancelled in 1995, and even that series only ever added a few tidbits of
historical data.
Having said that, data about who was ruling planet Earth during the millennium that ended in 3015 A.D. was something that the AOCIWH did focus on enough to provide some names and some dates. Unfortunately, absolutely nothing about how the Confederation of Nations, the World Federation and the United Federation of Earth actually functioned was revealed in that text page or in any GOTG story that has been published since then. This makes it very hard to say anything definitive about those organizations and only their names provide any clues. So, although I wanted to include an interesting comment here, it seems that the best I can do is provide some basic information about confederations and federations that I've found on the internet.
According to various online sources, a confederation is a political union of sovereign states, united for purposes of common action, often in relation to other states. Since the member states retain their sovereignty, the central government is usually relatively weak, with any decisions made by it requiring the member states to agree to implement them before they take effect. Membership in a confederation is also voluntary, with member states retaining the right to secede. Not being an American, I was surprised to learn that the United States of America was originally a confederation that had been established when the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union came into force in 1781. However, its central government, the Congress of the Confederation, proved to be so weak and ineffective that a federalist movement was able to obtain the support needed to replace it with a stronger federal government in 1789.
A federation is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions under a central (federal) government. The self-governing status of the component states and the division of power between them and the central government is usually established by the federation's constitution. The sovereignty of a federal nation-state is held by its federal government which also holds the ultimate authority in the federation, one to which the member states are subordinate. After the Constitution of the United States was ratified in 1788, the United States of America became a federation in 1789.
In the real world, there has never been a single political authority with jurisdiction over all of Earth and humanity. The closest thing to such a world government that has ever existed is the United Nations, established in 1945 with the goal of preventing any future world wars. The UN's objectives are to maintain international peace and security, protect human rights, deliver humanitarian aid, promote sustainable development, and uphold international law. Although it is the world's largest and most powerful intergovernmental organization, the United Nations has influence but no real power since its membership consists of sovereign states who are not required to abide by any decisions made by its General Assembly. As such, the UN can be considered to be a confederation, albeit a very weak one. However, given that a United Nations presumably existed on Earth-691, the fact that the political union established by the Treaty of Peking in 1995 was called the first Confederation of Nations indicates that the UN was not considered to be a true confederation.
The United Lands of Earth Federation vs.
the United Federation of Earth
The original Guardians of the Galaxy story contained some elements that were
discarded when Steve Gerber continued their storyline. Retconning the Jovians as living in city-spheres that
floated in Jupiter's atmosphere instead of living on its (non-existent) solid surface was one of those changes,
and replacing the U.L.E. Federation made up of dozens of planets with the five-member United Federation of Earth
was another. However, writer Jim Valentino still managed to mention the United Lands of Earth's forces in his
retelling of the (secret) origin of the Guardians of the Galaxy. With that in mind, how does this reference fit
into the continuity of the Guardians of the Galaxy?
If one examines the evidence, there is very little to be found, with both
names only being mentioned in two comics each. Here are the references to the U.L.E.:
And here are the references to the United Federation of Earth:
Is this simply a case of a (fictional) political entity having two different
names? Maybe, but there could be another explanation. Could the "United Lands of Earth" have been the name of the
World Federation that was replaced by the "United Federation of Earth" in the year 3000? If so, then it would make
sense that Charlie-27, who had been born in 2981 A.D. and had enlisted in the space militia when he was sixteen
years old, might still, in his mind, think of himself as serving the United Lands of Earth even in 3007 A.D.
Of
course, this is only speculation on my part, but I like the idea that the second worldwide government was called
something more distinctive than just the World Federation.
Anyway, the only other in-story reference to any sort of authority active in
3007 A.D. occurs in Marvel Presents#12 when the Guardians track a response to their distress signal to a planet
in a star system located between Arcturus and Earth. When Charlie-27 sights the true source of the signal, a giant
space station that is orbiting the planet, he identifies it as "Drydock...The Federation's starship-yard" where
he spent most of his basic training and which had been reported lost during the war with the Badoon.
And that's
the last time that any federation was referenced.
Population data
The people of Earth-691 experienced multiple events between 1982 A.D. and 3019 A.D.
that significantly reduced their population, including the Ozone Catastrophe that caused the first skin cancer
epidemic in 1982 and a global near-famine; the Bionics Wars of the 1990s; the fission power plant explosion in
1995 that rendered the western half of Canada uninhabitable; the Martian invasion and conquest in 2001 and the
subsequent decades of occupation; the centuries-long reign of the Techno-Barons; the Badoon invasion and conquest
in 3007 and the subsequent eight years of occupation; the Realitee-Vee crisis of 3016 and the Turf War waged from
3016 to 3018. However, surprisingly little information about how many people actually died during these events has
ever been revealed. Let's review:
With these figures in mind, it's pretty much impossible to say how many humans were living on Earth-691 during the reign of the Techno-Barons. If the Martians had drastically reduced the total human population, then it might have taken quite some time for their numbers to grow appreciably, especially given the feudal nature of the civilization ruled by the Techno-Barons. Similarly, we have no information about how much and how quickly the human population grew after the serfs overthrew the Techno-Barons and began to colonize the solar system. Who knows, perhaps they used some sort of advanced technology to cause their numbers to rapidly increase?
For contrast, the real world population was just over 4 billion in 1975, well over 5 billion in 1990, over 6 billion in 2001 (when the Martians didn't invade), over 7 billion in 2011, and is over 8 billion in 2024. The human population of Earth-616 is presumed to have similar numbers, but widespread negative events (like the War of the Realms) may have impeded its growth somewhat.
Fun facts. According to information that I found online at the Worldometer website, the last time that the total human population of planet Earth was as low as 50 million was in 1000 B.C. It took 500 years to double it to 100 million, another 1,100 years to double that to 200 million, and 1,204 years to quintuple that number to 1 billion in 1804 A.D.
One thing that I've noticed about Major Astro's history lesson is that there is a significant predominance of light-skinned male characters. Out of the dozens of people who are depicted, only five of them are female: a woman shown receiving a bionic left arm, Carmilla Frost, a Pluvian, a Centaurian and Sharon Carter. Everyone else is male, including the doctors, the cyborgs, every political leader, the serfs, the Mercurians, the Jovians, the colonists on Centauri-IV, and the prisoners of the Badoon. Similarly, aside from the grey-skinned Mercurians, the crystalline-skinned Pluvians, and the blue-skinned Centaurians, almost every other character is light-skinned. The only three exceptions are the representative of the U.S.S.R. who signed the Treaty of Peking, and M'Shulla and Grok from Killraven's Freemen.
There's also a similar predominance in Marvel Presents#3. Although the Omniscient Narrative speaks of how the 50 million or so surviving Terran men, women and children have been fighting to regain control of their world, aside from a few brown-skinned individuals who appear in two crowd scenes, every human is light-skinned. Worse yet, the only female characters (aside from the Badoon Sisterhood) are two women in a cabaret in San Francisco that Vance Astro repeatedly patronized. One of the women was shown making out with a customer and the other was Paula, an exotic dancer who was that cabaret's star attraction. The stated reason why Astro kept coming to the cabaret was...so that he could stare at the sweat on Paula's hipbones.
Chronological mistakes...or changes?
For some reason, writer Jim Valentino got the chronology of the United Federation
of Earth wrong on two occasions. First, Part I of "The History of the Guardians" that appeared in the Readers' Space
page of Guardians of the Galaxy I#1 states that "The primitive inhabitants of Centauri-IV would join with the other
colony worlds and the Earth to form a pact of planetary equality in the year 3006. And peace would reign...for less
than one year!" Second, Starhawk's recounting of "The Origin of the Guardians of the Galaxy" that began the first
Guardians of the Galaxy Annual repeats this misinformation thusly: "In the year 3006 a treaty between the warring
colonies was ratified. This agreement guaranteed an equal voice in a new federation and peace reigned...for less
than one year!"
So, aside from not naming this federation and changing the year of its
formation from 3000 A.D. to 3006 A.D., Mr. Valentino introduced the idea that the colonies had been warring
amongst each other before the treaty that established the federation was ratified. This sounds a lot like how
the Confederation of Nations was established in 1995 A.D. after the Bionics Wars of the 1990s, as had been
established in Defenders I#26 and Marvel Presents#4.
I honestly have no idea why he made these changes to the
previously-established history of Earth-691. Were these changes part of a deliberate retcon? Or was his writing
based on inadequate research? I mean, he also wrote the story in Guardians of the Galaxy I#17 in which Charlie-27
stated that, since the year was 3018, that meant that the Guardians had been away from Earth for over four years.
This was WRONG because Marvel Presents#3 clearly showed that the Guardians left Earth in (late) 3015 A.D. (or
even early 3016 A.D.), so by 3018 they would have been gone from Earth for less than four years (or barely three
years or even less than three years).
There's also the fact that he had Martinex state that humanity had been
united against the Brotherhood of Badoon for seven long years which is inconsistent with the idea, stated in
Marvel Presents#3, that Earth, "for eight years, (had) worn the yoke of slavery." Sure, one could argue that
the period of time during which humanity was enslaved, from being conquered in 3007 A.D. to their liberation
in 3015 A.D., was not eight FULL years (i.e., 96 months) but that seems an odd choice to make. Then again,
writer Steve Gerber did have Nikki state, in Marvel Presents#4, that survival had been her only business since
the Badoon had demolished the Mercurian mining colony seven years earlier...and seven years before 3015 would
have been...3008 A.D. Oops.
But what about the Moon?
While having his memory probed by the Badoon in Marvel Super-Heroes II#18, Major
Astro revealed that, in the year 1988, "Earthmen now had a small Moon colony operating." Given that the Guardians'
future had not yet been definitively linked to the mainstream Marvel Universe, writer Arnold Drake probably did
not intend for that colony to exist within the Blue Area but, once that link was established, it seems logical to
assume that that was where the colony Astro mentioned was located. So, what else do we know about the Moon that
orbits Earth-691?
And finally, what of Mars?
Considering how convoluted the whole idea of Killraven's "Martian Masters"
has become over the years, I am absolutely not going to try to unravel that Gordian Knot in these comments.
However, I will mention four oddities that stand out.
First, during that aforementioned memory probe by the Badoon in 3007 A.D., Major Astro mentioned that, in the year 1988, "the first landings on Mars had taken place." This is inconsistent with the idea that Mars-691 was inhabited by an aggressive alien race. Of course, Killraven's War of the Worlds wasn't added to the timeline of the Guardians until Defenders I#26, written over six years after the first GotG story, so it's not an error on Arnold Drake's part.
Second, the letters page in Marvel Presents#3 provided "a word or two...about the Earth of 3015 A.D., the far-future era in which our GUARDIANS tales are set." The text page covered the nine planets in Earth's solar system, plus Centauri-IV, the fourth planet in orbit about the nearest star, Alpha Centauri. The reference to Mars read as follows: "Mars, as terrans learned to their sorrow back in 2001, was already inhabited. (Check out any issue of KILLRAVEN if you doubt us.)" The odd thing about this is that it completely overlooks the fact that an important part of the Killraven continuity was that the Martians had invaded Earth once before, in 1901. Given this fact, the idea that the Terrans had only learned that Mars was inhabited in 2001 is off by one hundred years. This also highlights the inherent silliness of the Killraven concept: that the people of Earth-691, after having been invaded by Martians once, would EVER stop being on guard against a second attack. The inclusion of Killraven into the timeline leads to the inescapable conclusion that the people of Earth-691 were REALLY incapable of perceiving such an obvious threat to their world and their lives.
Third, the story in Amazing Adventures II#38 introduces a character known only as the Dreamer who turned out to be a human (probably American) astronaut who, during "the Mars Launch of 1999 (was) sent up, unshielded, through the cosmic rays about Mars" which transformed him, giving him the ability to psychically project his dreams while trapping him in a sleep state during which he dreamed but was aware. How he ended up back on Earth and in the Miami Museum of Cultural Development has never been revealed.
Fourth, an Omniscient Narrative caption in Guardians of the Galaxy I#54 states that "Even the ruthless Badoon carefully avoided the infamous red planet during their systematic conquest of (the) solar system." The story claims that this was due to the quarantine that had been established around Mars, a quarantine that was enforced by repurposed Sentinel robots based on Phobos. The fact that breaking the quarantine was a "violation of intergalactic law" implies that it was established by some interstellar authority that was never identified.
Profile by Donald Campbell.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The United Federation of Earth has no known connections to:
The first of four worldwide political unions known to have existed on Earth-691, the (first) Confederation of Nations was established by the Treaty of Peking in the year 1995 A.D. in the aftermath of the Bionics Wars of the (early) 1990s.
Aside from those basic facts, all that has been revealed about this Confederation of Nations can be seen in the image to the left, which presumably depicts the signing of the Treaty of Peking. Based on the flags, the three men shown signing the treaty seem to be representatives of the People's Republic of China, the United States of America, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, who were the three major world powers at that time. Presumably the representatives of the other, less powerful, nations would have signed the treaty at a different signing ceremony.
Although it is known that "Earthmen" had had a small Moon colony operating by the year 1988, it may have been abandoned (due to lack of funding) during the Bionics Wars of the early 1990s. Even if it was still manned in 1995, the Moon colony was presumably considered to be an outpost of whatever nation (probably the United States of America) had established it, and not a nation in and of itself.
Exactly how this Confederation of Nations functioned has never been established. It is presumed that every nation then on Earth was a member of this confederation but this has not been confirmed, so there might have been some rogue states who were not members. It was implied that the formation of this confederation led to an end of all warfare between the peoples of Earth, but the harmony it brought apparently did not extend to an acceptance of mutants or an end to their persecution.
Since a confederation is a voluntary union of sovereign states, whatever central authority existed was accountable to those states and did not govern them. It is unclear what role this central authority played in the reconstruction of the cities and the issuance of the decree against the mutants. It is also unrevealed whether this authority controlled a collective military response to the Martian invasion of 2001 A.D. or if all military decisions were made by the different member states acting on their own.
This Confederation of Nations ceased to exist as a political entity in 2001 A.D. when human civilization collapsed following the Martian invasion and conquest. The nations which had been its member states also effectively ceased to exist at that time, but they may have eventually been revived after the Martians left. Or not. While cities named New York, Chicago, New Moscow, Berlin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Moscow(?) and Beijing were all shown to exist in the early 31st century, there weren't any mentions of any nations within which they were located.
--Defenders I#26 (fb) - Mentioned in Marvel Presents#4: An Outline Course in World History 1975-3015 A.D.
Notes: For some considerable time, I believed that the Bionics Wars of the 1990s had ended in 1995 A.D. when the Treaty of Peking was signed. However, having to inspect the available evidence more closely has led me to realize that the Treaty of Peking was signed in order to establish of the first Confederation of Nations. This means that there has never been any information provided about exactly how the Bionics Wars ended. How did a worldwide public outcry in response to the highly-visible explosion of a fission nuclear power plant that rendered the western half of Canada uninhabitable result in the end of wars that were being fought for possession of the fast-vanishing food supply? That nuclear catastrophe didn't change the fact that the whole planet was suffering through a near-famine, so why would they stop fighting for food?
For some reason, while the second World Federation and the United Federation of Earth were referenced using normal characters in AOCIWH, the name of the first Confederation of Nations was spelt in italics. Why?
The flags shown hanging behind the three signatories of the Treaty of Peking are not quite right. The Chinese delegate is shown seated in front of the flag of the Chinese Communist Party and not the flag for the People's Republic of China. The national flag of the United States of America is depicted with only eleven horizontal stripes (instead of thirteen) and no stars (instead of fifty). The State Flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is depicted as being pink (instead of red) and with a hammer-and-sickle symbol that is large, white and in the right two-thirds of the flag (instead of being small, golden and in the upper left quarter).
The last of the four worldwide political entities known to have existed on Earth-691, the Earth-Gov presumably came to power in 3015 A.D. following the defeat of the Brotherhood of Badoon and their removal from Earth by the Sisterhood of Badoon. This government apparently claimed dominion over the planet Earth and the enslaved colony of Luna, but no information about its origins, its membership and how it functioned has ever been revealed.
When the Guardians of the Galaxy returned to Earth in 3018 A.D., they
were shocked to discover that many cities around the world were in ruins, as if they had been destroyed in
a war. After teleporting down to Times Square in Manhattan, the Guardians soon encountered the Commandeers,
a resistance group who had formed to protect people in the New York City area (possibly known as the New
York sector) from murderous street gangs. Following a brief battle that ended when Tarin, the leader of the
Commandeers, recognized the Guardians, the two groups went to the headquarters of the Commandeers, the
sub-basement of the former Avengers Mansion.
Once there, Tarin explained how the world had become as it was, beginning with the introduction, shortly after the Guardians had left Earth, of Realitee-Vee, an interactive holo-vid that been very popular among the people of Earth who desperately needed a diversion to take their minds off the trauma they had suffered during the Badoon occupation. However, Realitee-Vee had secretly emitted a highly addictive gas that had devastating effects on its large viewing audience, with the older generation becoming so addicted that they constantly stayed in front of their sets, unwilling to get up even to eat or sleep. While these older viewers died, the younger generation began to run wild in the streets, formed themselves into gangs and started the bloodiest Turf War in history. As Tarin told the Guardians, "During the ensuing anarchy on Earth, the enslaved colony of Luna seceded from the Earth-Gov without shedding a drop of blood!"
And that was the only mention that has ever been made of the Earth-Gov.
While it seems likely that this government fell during the chaos of the Turf War, this has never been confirmed.
--Mentioned in Guardians of the Galaxy I#17
Note: The term "New York sector" was used for the first and only time by Tarin in Marvel Two-In-One I#5. However, she was not actually shown using that term anywhere in the original GOTG series, even though it would have been appropriate to do so.
The second of four worldwide political unions known to have existed on Earth-691, this (second) world federation was established in the aftermath of the rebellion by the serfs that overthrew the Techno-Barons who had ruled the planet for nearly five hundred years.
After the reign of the Techno-Barons ended with the execution of the tyrant Kwaal in 2525 A.D., the serfs took control and restored communications between the formerly-isolated city-states. By 2530 A.D., a second world federation had been established, one that apparently existed for over 470 years. The government of this federation, which may have been known simply as the Earth government, presumably had some control over what happened in the solar system during those centuries, including the genetic engineering of the Mercurian, Jovian and Pluvian sub-species of humanity; the colonization of Mercury, Jupiter and Pluto; the construction of the teleport system that enabled people to travel between the planets; the creation of the first space militia to safeguard interplanetary trade; and the construction of the first Terran starship fleet. However, no details of exactly how this federation participated in these events have ever been revealed.
The fact that is was a World Federation implies that its central authority was a federal government to which the member states were subordinate. As such, this government must have actually had some say in how the member states were governed by their local authorities, but exactly how this was done has never been revealed.
As of 2977 A.D., "the Earth government" was known to have an embassy on the Moon, located in the rebuilt city of Attilan in the Blue Area of the Moon. The existence of this lunar embassy suggests that Earth's Luna colony was not under the direct supervision of the Earth government, but this probably was not the case for those members of the world federation that existed on Earth. It is also unclear how much control, if any, this Earth government exercised over the colonies, but the fact that Pluvian separatists and Mercurian insurrectionists existed in the late 30th century implies that the Earth government did claim to have dominion over the colonies, a claim which was not accepted by all of the colonists. Exactly how the Earth government may have governed the colonies has never been revealed, but the relationship was apparently an unequal one in which the colonists did not have full control over their respective colonies and presumably had little influence in determining policy for the federation.
This world federation was apparently replaced in the year 3000 A.D. when Earth and all the colonies joined together as co-equal partners in the new United Federation of Earth, an alliance of all the nations of Earth and all her colonies. The fact that Earth and the colonies were now co-equal partners suggests that this new united federation was not just an expansion and renaming of the pre-existing world federation.
--Mentioned in Defenders I#26 (fb) and in the AOCIWH text page in Marvel Presents#4
Notes: The fact that this political entity was referenced as "a second world federation" in Defenders I#26 and as "the second World Federation" in AOCIWH is a bit odd because those terms imply the existence of a first world federation. I can only assume that Steve Gerber was thinking of the Confederation of Nations as being that first world federation when he wrote those words. However, that's factually inaccurate since, although some people use those terms interchangeably, there are significant differences between confederations and federations. So, with that in mind, Major Astro (and Steve Gerber) should instead have (both) spoken of the first Confederation of Nations and the first World Federation. Of course, to people from Earth-691 who were alive at those times, they would have been just the Confederation of Nations and the World Federation.
As mentioned in the Comments section, I'm uncertain what this political union's actual name was supposed to be. Was the "World Federation" meant to be its name or was that just its description? Or was that meant to be both its name and its description? Personally, I think being called just the World Federation would be too bland and mundane a name.
images: (without ads)
Defenders I#26, page 14, panel 2 (main image)
page 11, panel 2 (signing of the Treaty of Peking)
page 12, panel 4 (victorious serfs celebrating)
Appearances/Mentions:
Marvel Super-Heroes II#18 (January, 1969) - Arnold Drake (writer), Stan Lee (editor)
Defenders I#26 (August, 1975) - Steve Gerber (writer), Sal Buscema & V. Colletta (artists), Len Wein
(editor)
Marvel Presents#4 (April, 1976) - "AN OUTLINE COURSE IN WORLD HISTORY 1975-3015 A.D." by Steve Gerber (writer),
Marv Wolfman (editor)
First Posted: 03/03/2024
Last updated: 03/03/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.
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