MOONRAKER

Real Name: Unknown

Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Limbo) mutate (Space Phantom)

Occupation: Agent of Immortus

Group Membership: Space Phantoms
    formerly: Force Works

Affiliations: Seemingly the Avengers (Black Widow (Romanoff), Crystal, Deathcry, Giant Man (Pym), Hawkeye, Hercules, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Swordsman (Jarvert), Thor, Vision, Wasp), Rachel Carpenter, Amanda Chaney, Force Works (Century, Iron Man (Stark), Scarlet Witch, Spider-Woman (Carpenter), U.S. Agent), Edwin Jarvis, Luna imposter, Kim, Masque (bio-duplicate), PLATO, Marianne Rodgers, Fisher Todd, War Machine (Rhodes)
    In reality: Immortus, Space Phantoms

Enemies: Seemingly Apocryphus, Cybermancer, "greenshirt" Anachronauts, Immortus (posing as Kang), Iron Man (Stark), Luna imposter, Malachi, Mantis imposter, Neut, Tobias;
    In reality: all of the above were affiliates

Known Relatives: Space Phantoms

Aliases: Gustav Brandt, Libra, Slade Truman

Base of Operations: Limbo;
formerly The Works in Ventura, California

First Appearance: Force Works#16 (October, 1995)

Powers/Abilities: Like all Space Phantoms it possessed the power to assume the appearance and powers of virtually any single mortal being. At the point that it assumed a being's likeness, the model was automatically shunted to Limbo until such time as the Phantom assumed its own form or that of someone else. The person dispatched to Limbo had no recollection of being in Limbo and materialized exactly where he or she was when "shunted". With Immortus help the Phantom could also assume appearance and powers of not existent beings. Through Immortus it also gained a full set of memories for each personality so that it couldn't be unveiled by telepaths because it really believed its own lies.

    As Moonraker the Phantom was very athletic, possessed great fighting skills and could emit corposant fire from its hands. Seemingly unbeknown to himself he had the power to negate events that had already happened in a small area around him.

History:
(Avengers Forever#8 (fb) ) - Under unknown circumstances the being that would become Moonraker got stranded in Limbo. Like anybody else that stayed too long in Limbo he forgot his own life and turned into a Space Phantom.

(Avengers Forever#8 (fb) ) - Immortus summoned some Space Phantoms and transformed one of them into Moonraker. With a back-story full of lies Moonraker was sent out to infiltrate Force Works as part of Immortus big distraction scheme known as the "Crossing".

(Force Works#19 (fb) - BTS) - (corruption & lies) Gustav Brandt was revered by the Priests of Pama because he was the Celestial Madonna's father. After his death they salvaged his spirit and guarded it. When Mantis left them for Kang they knew that Kang would one day eradicate all traces of them. They transplanted Brandt's soul into Slade Truman who was as Moonraker a Force Works member in a parallel reality. They hid Brandt's soul deep inside Moonraker to protect it from Kang and his emissaries, and only Moonraker's return to Agaphaur would re-awaken Brandt. At an appropriate moment they shifted Moonraker into this reality so that no one would realize that he was an alien to this world. Because Moonraker and Spider-Woman were lovers in his reality it became real in this world too.

(Force Works#18 (fb) - BTS) - (corruption & lies) Moonraker helped Spider-Woman against the D.A.E.M.O.N. Conspiracy in Nantucket until the rest of Force Works arrived. After that he served as a probationer for two months and then gained full team status.

(Force Works#16 (fb) - BTS) - (corruption & lies) Julia Carpenter and Moonraker had been a couple for six months.

(Force Works#16) - Moonraker trained with his beloved Spider-Woman in the Works' Vroom Room against holograms of D.A.E.M.O.N.S. relieving the mission in Nantucket that brought Moonraker into Force Works. Moonraker criticized Julia because she didn't take care enough of herself in the training. Another kiss and the couple left the Vroom Room. Moonraker congratulated Fisher on the Nantucket program before going with Julia to their quarter. Moonraker made some toast and Julia brought orange juice to the table. Suddenly it was back in the fridge (time-corruption) and Moonraker got it from there again. Eggs Julia had just broken were (time-corruption#2) whole again and she had to break them again. Moonraker was happy that Scarlet Witch and U.S. Agent were coming back from New York. Some time later he welcomed them home and annoyed U.S. Agent immediately with a joke. The roses Julia had just cut and put into a vase were uncut (time-corruption#3) on the table again. Rachel didn't recognize Moonraker at all and Scarlet Witch had to tell her that Moonraker was the boyfriend of Rachel's mother (see comments).

(Iron Man I#321) - Iron Man contacted the Works and spoke with Moonraker about the introduction of a new member (Cybermancer).

(Force Works#17) - Moonraker wasn't happy when Iron Man took Cybermancer into the team because she didn't have to go through the same process he had to. He was present when Iron Man told Force Works that Hawkeye was seemingly a murderer. Some time later he worked in the Chaos Vault and started a globe status check. Fourteen minutes later the check was finished, but Moonraker didn't answer to PLATO. Julia Carpenter watched Moonraker motionless sitting in a chair until he suddenly screamed about a fire, Khrull (sic) and Lua. Scared by this, Rachel brought her mother to Moonraker who showed her, Iron Man, and Scarlet Witch that Vietnam had just disappeared. Except for him nobody else even knew that a place called Vietnam had even existed. The Scarlet Witch decided to start a mission to Cambodia right next to the area Moonraker described because of a chaos alert. Moonraker joined the team on their mission and after they passed a strange energy curtain at Cambodia's coast their hex ship began to struggle.

(Force Works#17 - BTS) - Moonraker was on board when Fisher Todd crash landed the hex ship Pegasus.

(Force Works#18) - Moonraker blew off the Pegasus' hatch and left it with the team shortly before it exploded. Moonraker used his data-log which couldn't give him any location readings. He couldn't contact their HQ either and he read background clutter from temporal energy forms. Moonraker went into the jungle with his team. They found the temple Agaphaur and suddenly Moonraker could remember his "true" past. He turned catatonic and spoke sporadically about Lua and the fire while his team mates were attacked by Apocryphus and the "greenshirt" Anachronauts. Moonraker regained his strength when Spider-Woman got cornered, and he beat Apocryphus and his team single-handedly. The surviving villains fled, and Moonraker told his beloved that Slade Truman was just a disguise produced by the Priests of Pama for Gustav Brandt who was sent to Force Works as a warning because the end of the world was near.

(Force Works#19) - Still readjusting to his "true" identity, Gustav told Wanda that he really was Gustav Brandt. Spider-Woman attacked him, angered by his lies, but Scarlet Witch held her back to learn more from Gustav. Moonraker told Scarlet Witch his "true" history. He then explained (partially lied) how Kang had expunged Vietnam from the time stream with his chronological powers, that Kang planned this for the entire planet and that Kang was afraid of something. When Kim was brought to Wanda and Moonraker he told (partially lied too) them that this creature was mutated by Kang's powers and that beings like this boy were recruited by Kang for his Anachronauts. Moonraker took a temporal activator from a fallen Anachronaut and asked Spider-Woman for the data-log he needed to supply the right coordinates into the activator. She gave it to him although she was angry and didn't want to talk to this liar again. Moonraker supplied the coordinates and then activated the temporal activator to return him and his team mates to the Works. The mutated kid was left behind because Moonraker said so.

(War Machine#22) - Moonraker and his team mates returned from Vietnam. After everyone had told his knowledge about the situation to the others, Black Widow decided to take Moonraker with her to Avengers Mansion. Century teleported her and Moonraker out of the Works.

(Iron Man I#324) - Moonraker arrived with Century and Black Widow in Avengers Mansion and Moonraker told a smaller version of his (lies) history to the present Avengers. He joined a team consisting of Century, Vision, Crystal and himself to attack Stark's arctic bunker. Moonraker fought against the colossal machinery. Marianne Rodgers contacted Moonraker and his team telepathically from inside the bunker. Moonraker left with the other heroes with Century's help, but didn't return to Avengers Mansion because he was abducted from the teleportation corridor by Luna's alternate future version. Captured by the villains Moonraker was tortured inside Kang's (Immortus) castle watched by Mantis (a Space Phantom). Brandt's soul now fully inhabited Moonraker's body which was seen when Brandt's blindness returned.

(Avengers I#394) - Moonraker was further tortured by Kang's (Immortus) machinery and Mantis (a Space Phantom) gleefully listened to his screams. Luna's future version showed mercy and brought Moonraker some water before freeing him. She took Moonraker and teleported with him to Avengers Mansion. There Pym took care of Moonraker, but he didn't see a chance for Moonraker's survival. Moonraker laid on deathbed during Neut's attack on the Avengers and his defeat by the Wasp (her waspy Wasp debut).

(Avengers I#397) - The still injured Moonraker laid in Avengers Mansion's med-lab.

(Avengers I#398 - BTS) - Thor and Scarlet Witch took Swordsman and Moonraker to Tony Stark's former rustic retreat.

Comments: Created by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Jim Cheung & Rey Garcia. Retcon (being a Space Phantom) by Kurt Busiek.

The definition for a corposant fire or St. Elmo's fire is that it is an electrical discharge accompanied by ionization of the surrounding atmosphere.

In Force Works#16 a Moonraker plush doll was seen aboard the hex-ship Chimera. Weird!

Per the letter's page in Force Works#21 Moonraker was responsible for the weird happenings in the Works whenever he was around like negating events that had already happened. Rachel Carpenter was the only one protected from it because of her childlike innocence (what an explanation). Just look above for all the times he lied or corrupted events.

*puff* Suddenly Moonraker was gone (possibly returned to Limbo) and no one cared! The next time an Avenger remembered Moonraker's existence was in Avengers Forever#2 when Wasp talked with the real Gustav Brandt about his time as Moonraker. Brandt denied ever being Moonraker and a few issues later in Avengers Forever#8 it was revealed that Moonraker was just a Space Phantom posing as Brandt.

Since Avengers Forever the history of the Space Phantoms had changed dramatically. No planet Phantus, an origin in Limbo and involvement in far more events on Immortus side than we knew of before.
    Grain of salt here perhaps, as Immortus has repeatedly and consistently manipulated others, so I'm not sure we can believe anything he ever says/reveals. Perhaps "alleged" Space Phantom is appropriate; however, Tom Brevoort, who edited Avengers Forever backs up the info revealed therein.
--Snood

A theory concerning Moonraker's supposed power to negate events.

  Was reading up on this confusing character, and it hit me that there's a very possible, and obvious, theory about his supposed power to "negate" events, a power most Space Phantoms don't possess.
 
  Immortus was the one actually negating the events, changing the events in a delicate fashion, for whatever reasons he had, allowing certain people to remember them.
--Madison Carter

My last words: The Crossing is a really confusing storyline and I gained a big headache from doing this profile.

Profile by Markus Raymond

CLARIFICATIONS:
Moonraker should not be confused with:

images:
Moonraker body shot: Force Works#16, p1, pan1
Moonraker transformation: Avengers Forever#8, p21, pan6
Moonraker head shot: Force Works#16, p9, pan3
Moonraker fighting: Force Works#18, p21, pan4

Appearances:
Force Works#16 (October, 1995) - Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Jim Cheung (pencils), Rey Garcia (inks), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Iron Man I#321 (October, 1995) - Terry Kavanagh (writer), Heitor Oliveira & Marcos Tetelli (pencils), Mark McKenna (inks), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Force Works#17-18 (November-December, 1995) - Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Jim Cheung (#17) & Yancey Labat (#18) (pencils), Rey Garcia (inks), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Force Works#19 (January, 1996) - Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Hector Oliveira (pencils), Rey Garcia (p1-7) Glass House Graphics (p8-23) inks, Nel Yomtov (editor)
War Machine#22 (January, 1996) - Dan Abnett (writer), Fred Haynes & Yancey Labat (pencils), Johnny Greene & Jim Palmiotti (inks), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Iron Man I#324 (January, 1996) - Terry Kavanaugh (plot), Dan Abnett (script), Jim Caliafore & M.D. Bright (pencils), P.L. Palmiotti/Moncuse/Cariello/DeLarosa (inkers), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Avengers I#394 (January, 1996) - Bob Harras & Terry Kavanaugh (plot), Ben Raab (script), Mike Deodato (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Avengers I#397 (April, 1996) - Terry Kavanagh & Howard Mackie (writer), Mike Deodato (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Avengers I#398 (May, 1996) - Terry Kavanagh & Ben Raab (writers), Mike Deodato Jr. (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Avengers Forever#8 (July, 1999) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Carlos Pacheco (penciler), Jesus Merino (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)

First Posted: 05/14/2005
Last updated: 10/17/2013

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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