EARTH-Z
(Earth-91126)

Type: Divergent Earth

Environment: Earth-like

Usual means of access: Interdimensional transport devices

Dominant Life Form: Brood, Humans, Inhumans, Kronans, mutants, Sakaarans, Watchers, other alien races

Significant Inhabitants: Attuma, Avengers (Moon Knight, Quasar, Quicksilver, Sentry/Bob Reynolds, Sub-Mariner, Super-Skrull/Kl'rt, Thundra, Professor Charles Xavier), Captain America, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Egghead, Galactus, Goliath, Hammerhead, the Hand (Elektra, others), Hawkeye, "Happy" Hogan, the Inhumans (Black Bolt, Crystal, Gorgon, Karnak, Lockjaw, Medusa, Triton, others), Iron Fist, Kingpin, Loki, Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), the New Avengers (Hulk/Bruce Banner, Iron Man/Jim Rhodes, Spider-Man/Peter Parker of Earth-2149, Wolverine/Logan), Nova, Harry Osborn, "Pepper" Potts, Kitty Pryde, Scarlet Witch, Shang-Chi, Silvermane, the Sinister Six (Doctor Octopus, Electro, Kraven, Mysterio, Sandman, Vulture), Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Spider-Woman, Gwen Stacy, Tony Stark, Stilt-Man, Lin Sun, Sunfire, Thor, Uatu the Watcher, the Warbound (Caeira, Hiroim, Elloe Kaifi, Korg, Miek, No-Name), Mary Jane Watson

First Appearance: Marvel Zombies Return#1 (November, 2009)

History: (Marvel Zombies Return#2 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Earth-Z's Reed Richards found a device on the moon and he gifted the device to Tony Stark in hopes that Stark could figure out what the device did, unaware that the device detected interdimensional breaches.

(Marvel Zombies Return#1) - While Earth-Z's Uatu the Watcher viewed events from his base on the moon, Earth-2149's zombie Spider-Man was transported to Earth-91126 (also known as Earth-Z) by an interdimensional transporter and arrived to find Earth-Z's Manhattan still looking bright and full of life, unlike Earth-2149's Manhattan, which resembled a hollowed-out husk. Deciding to get the lay of the land, Spider-Man-2149 soon realized the cosmic powers from his home reality did not transfer to Earth-Z and that he had arrived on Earth-Z as Hammerhead and Silvermane were about to fight over a tablet of eternal life, which had occurred years ago in Spider-Man's home reality. Thinking that if he could find the tablet soon, he could rid himself of his zombie curse as well as cure his home reality's zombie plague indefinitely, Spider-Man-2149 swung off towards the tablet, unaware that a goon working for Earth-Z's Kingpin had spotted him and informed the Kingpin of his presence. On his way, Spider-Man-2149 noticed Earth-Z's Peter Parker walking with his friends Mary Jane Watson, Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn, and nearly attacked Mary Jane to satiate his zombie hunger, but forced him to move onto towards Empire State University's exhibit hall, where the tablet resided. Unfortunately, the Sinister Six attacked and while Earth-Z's Peter Parker rushed off to change into his Spider-Man costume, Spider-Man-2149 decided to intervene to protect his loved ones. Unable to control his zombie hunger, however, Spider-Man-2149 fed on Earth-Z's Kraven the Hunter before turning to feed on Mysterio as well. When Dr. Octopus and Electro attempted to gain revenge for the deaths of their teammates, Spider-Man-2149 knocked Dr. Octopus' arms into Electro's electric blast, electrocuting Dr. Octopus and leaving Electro drained. Earth-2149's Spider-Man then fed on the fat Dr. Octopus before jumping into the air to remove Vulture's arms and use his winged harness to decapitate Electro. A horrified Sandman fled and Kingpin took advantage of the Sinister Six's diversion to acquire the eternal youth-causing tablet but upon seeing the still-standing Spider-Man of Earth-2149, Earth-Z's Kingpin decided to take care of Spider-Man himself, only to be eaten by the zombie Spider-Man as well. Earth-Z's Spider-Man soon caught up to Sandman, who mistook Earth-Z's Spider-Man for the zombie and killed him by force-feeding him sand until his organs exploded from his body, while Earth-2149's Spider-Man soon found that the eaten Sinister Six had become infected with him zombie plague and had fed on his friends. Shredding the Sinister Six's zombie corpses to the point where none could rise again, Earth-2149's Spider-Man, wracked with guilt over the deaths of the Earth-Z counterparts of his friends, ripped the skin from his face, feeling that he would never be nothing more than a monster. Continuing to witness events, Earth-Z's Uatu the Watcher was soon eaten by Earth-2149's Giant-Man, who had been transported to the moon by the same interdimensional transporter that sent Spider-Man-2149 to Earth-Z.

(Marvel Zombies Return#2 (fb) - BTS) - Before succumbing to death, Earth-Z's Uatu sealed off access to other realities, preventing Giant-Man from spreading his zombie plague into further realities.

(Marvel Zombies Return#2) - Two years later, Earth-2149's Giant-Man, seeking to find the key to re-opening access to other realities, managed to transport himself to Earth-Z's New York, arriving within the Stark Industries sub-basements. By this point, Earth-Z's Tony Stark had become a drunk and while he sat in his office drinking, his ally "Happy" Hogan entered the office and overheard the interdimensional detection device once given to Stark broadcasting a message that an interdimensional breach had occurred in Stark Industries' sub-basements. Deciding to check it out, Hogan was quickly chomped by Giant-Man, who allowed the now-zombie Hogan to lead him to further victims and the key to unlocking access to other realities. Hogan then emerged upstairs, where he infected other Stark personnel, prompting head of security Jim "Rhodey" Rhodes to shoot Hogan, delaying Hogan long enough for him to climb up the non-working elevator shaft in an effort to save the drunk Tony Stark. In his office, Stark argued with "Pepper" Potts, who insisted he do something about the zombies as Iron Man, but Stark claimed he was too drunk to pilot the armor. When Potts suggested she don the armor, Stark admitted he couldn't remember where he put the briefcase housing the armor and watched on video screens as Earth-2149's Giant-Man infected others, all the while wondering where his security chief Jim Rhodes was. As Rhodey barricaded himself in the men's bathroom, Stark fiddled with the device Reed Richards had given, ultimately throwing it into a junkpile when Potts continued to berate him for not doing anything against the zombies. Stark opened a safe containing a bottle as Rhodey found Stark's Iron Man briefcase in the bathroom and donned the armor himself, fighting back against the zombies until one managed to make it into Stark's office. As Stark drunk from the bottle he grabbed from his safe, Potts was bitten by the zombie and Rhodey pulverized the zombie when the armor's non-charged repulsors stopped working. Stark then vomited on the zombie Potts, who ran screaming as Stark revealed to Rhodey that the bottle he drunk from wasn't liquor but a supposed cure for cancer involving nanometer machines suspended in a sterile alcohol base. Admitting that he had drunk the cure hoping it would protect him from the zombie plague, Stark soon discovered that the nanometer machines destroyed disease tissues, effectively destroying the zombie Potts from the inside. Thinking that the cure could stop the zombies, Rhodey soon learned that the cure had to be ingested and had only worked on Potts because Stark had vomited in her mouth. Stark suggested their only hope of survival would be charging the armor and Rhodey plugged the armor into the wall but Stark revealed that it would take hours they didn't have to charge the armor that way while Earth-2149's Giant-Man had his infected zombies advance their search for Stark. Realizing they had to go through more zombies to get the armor fast-charged, Stark dubbed Rhodey the new Iron Man and sacrificed himself to buy Rhodey time to get away, downing more of the nanometer machine cure and allowing the zombies to eat him, only to be destroyed by ingesting the cure. As the new Iron Man contacted all nearby authorities for help, Earth-2149's Giant-Man acquired the device Reed Richards had once given to Tony Stark and determined that it would unlock his access to other realities, remarking that he now needed to return to the moon.

(Marvel Zombies Return#3 (fb) - BTS) - Earth-2149's Wolverine arrived on Earth-Z, having been transported there by the same interdimensional transporter that had sent Earth-2149's Spider-Man and Giant-Man to Earth-Z years earlier.

(Marvel Zombies Return#3 (fb)) - Earth-2149's Wolverine found that his transportation to Earth-Z had removed the cosmic powers he had gained from earlier feeding on Earth-2149's Galactus. Paranoid at the loss of his power, Earth-2149's Wolverine remained on Earth-Z in hiding for months, feeding only on the homeless and devouring them completely to prevent them from rising as zombies that would compete with him for food. As time passed, Earth-2149's Wolverine became more confidant and he eventually began openly hunting for food on Earth-Z.

(Marvel Zombies Return#3 (fb) - BTS) - Learning about the arrival of Earth-2149's Wolverine, Spider-Man-2149, still on Earth-Z, began working on a vaccine to control the zombie virus and fed on Wolverine-2149's leftovers.

(Marvel Zombies Return#3) - Two years following the Stark Industries zombie outbreak, Kitty Pryde was running through the alleys of Tokyo, avoiding Hand ninjas to meet up with her X-Men teammate Logan when she saw Earth-2149's Wolverine. At first thinking him to be Earth-Z's Logan, Kitty Pryde ran to him but quickly found him to be a zombie and she allowed him to phase through her as he instead fed on the Hand ninjas chasing Pryde. Earth-2149's Wolverine then turned back towards Pryde after eating the ninjas but Pryde was rescued by Earth-2149's Spider-Man, whom Pryde did not recognize. When Pryde asked Spider-Man-2149 who he was, Spider-Man introduced himself and explained that the zombie Wolverine of Earth-2149 was not Earth-Z's Wolverine but could be if they didn't act quickly. After revealing to Pryde that Earth-2149's Wolverine was a zombie, Spider-Man-2149 invited Pryde back to his lab, where he revealed the origins of the Earth-2149 zombie plague outbreak and how he had been working on a vaccine to control the zombie plague. Pryde suggested Spider-Man-2149 use the vaccine on Wolverine-2149 immediately but Spider-Man-2149 revealed that the zombie plague had rendered Wolverine-2149's healing factor inert and that he would need a blood sample from Earth-Z's Wolverine in order to create the vaccine for Wolverine-2149. Outside, Wolverine-2149 demanded to know where Earth-Z's Wolverine was but accidentally killed the Hand ninja he was interrogating as Earth-Z's Sunfire arrived and demanded to know what Wolverine was doing and whether he had gone insane. Knocked through a wall by Sunfire, Wolverine-2149 found the Deathmatch Tokyo fight club and when Iron Fist questioned him, Wolverine-2149 killed both Iron Fist and the pursuing Sunfire by stabbing his claws through their heads. Shang-Chi attempted to calm Wolverine-2149, only to lose his arm to Wolverine-2149's claws, before Earth-Z's Wolverine confronted his Earth-2149 counterpart. At Spider-Man-2149's lab, Spider-Man-2149 worked on the vaccine while Pryde, suspicious of the rotting smell in the lab, investigated a cabinet and found body parts hanging inside. Shocked, Pryde backed into Spider-Man-2149, who expressed wishes that she hadn't done that, as he had hoped to spare her. Removing his mask to reveal a zombie with a skinless face, Spider-Man-2149 announced that it was time for the truth as Earth-Z's Wolverine fought Wolverine-2149 until more of the Hand showed up. Reluctantly teaming to stop the Hand, both Wolverines defeated the Hand and destroyed those that Wolverine-2149 had earlier infected while Wolverine-2149 killed Elektra. Upon the Hand's defeat, the two Wolverines prepared to square off again as Spider-Man-2149 admitted that he was a zombie from the same reality as Wolverine-2149 but assured Pryde that he was working to stop the zombie plague and that he had been making sure that none of Wolverine-2149's victims rose as zombies. When Pryde asked for proof that Spider-Man-2149 was sincerely trying to stop the zombie plague, Spider-Man-2149 assured Pryde that he couldn't hurt in her phased form and revealed the secret to killing him should his zombie hunger take over and he try to hurt her. Pryde and Spider-Man-2149 soon located the two Wolverines, arriving as Wolverine-2149 impaled Earth-Z's Wolverine with his claws while Wolverine was distracted at the arrival of the zombie Spider-Man, who announced his plans to create a vaccine from Earth-Z Wolverine's blood. Wolverine-2149 fought back, claiming he was happy how he was, but Pryde stabbed the zombie Wolverine in the eye with a wooden stake as Earth-Z Wolverine began healing his stab wounds. Earth-Z Wolverine then destroyed Wolverine-2149 and demanded to know what was going on from Spider-Man-2149. Ten minutes later, after Spider-Man-2149 again recounted the origins of Earth-2149 and its zombie plague, Earth-Z Wolverine noticed the Hand ninjas rising as zombies. Spider-Man-2149 quickly warned that none of the ninjas could escape to infect others, prompting Earth-Z's Wolverine to eviscerate them all. Spider-Man-2149 then retrieved a blood sample from Earth-Z's Wolverine and an hour later, Spider-Man-2149 confirmed the vaccine was ready, albeit with not as strong a reaction as he had hoped. Taking Wolverine-2149 with him, Spider-Man-2149 departed with the vaccine and Pryde asked Wolverine what to do next. Earth-Z's Wolverine suggested they get something to eat and Pryde asked how he could even think of eating after what they had just went through. Earth-Z's Wolverine replied that he had worked up an appetite and neither noticed the bite marks on Earth-Z Wolverine's arm.

(Marvel Zombies Return#4 (fb)) - After being exiled into space by the Illuminati, the monstrous Hulk thrived but his lover Caeira was killed.

(Marvel Zombies Return#4) - Hulk traveled back towards Earth on a mission of revenge. Arriving on Earth-Z's Attilan in the Blue Area of the Moon, an angry Hulk found it empty and began smashing his way around Attilan, searching for Illuminati member Black Bolt. Eventually finding the room housing Black Bolt and Medusa, Hulk found it littered with corpses and demanded to know what had happened. When Medusa warned that Hulk did not want that fight and that Hulk had no idea what he was up against, Hulk announced that he was thinking the same thing for the Inhumans but before he could fight the Inhumans, Hulk found himself confronted by the zombie Giant-Man of Earth-2149 and a slew of zombie Inhumans. Hulk's Warbound allies arrived shortly thereafter and assisted the Hulk against the zombie horde until Black Bolt muttered "brains," creating a sonic wave that destroyed most of the Inhumans and some of Hulk's Warbound including Korg. The zombie Karnak soon devoured Hiroim, much to the horror of Elloe Kaifi, and Giant-Man-2149 personally ate Miek and No-Name the Brood. Punching Giant-Man, Hulk rescued Elloe Kaifi but soon after fleeing Attilan, Elloe noticed that Hulk had been bitten. Moments later, the zombie hunger took over Hulk and he ripped Elloe in half, eating her insides. After completely devouring Elloe, Hulk realized his food was gone but turned toward Earth, thinking more food could be found there. Traveling to Earth, the zombie Hulk attacked Manhattan, devouring as many people as he could as the Illuminati communicated with each other regarding the situation. Recognizing the zombie plague from his past encounters with zombies, Iron Man (Jim Rhodes) called in the only person they knew to be strong enough to go toe-to-toe with the Hulk: Sentry. Sentry soon arrived and fiercely fought the Hulk until he transformed back into Bruce Banner. Reverting to his own secret identity of Bob Reynolds, Sentry promised that they would find a fix Banner's zombie plague infection but Banner replied that Sentry didn't understand, warning that he soon would. Banner then took a bite out of Bob Reynolds' hand, infecting the Sentry with the zombie plague and bringing the Sentry over to the Hulk's side. Noticing the fight from afar, Spider-Man-2149 remarked that things kept getting worse and decided that he would need to quell the zombie plague, departing to find the Avengers.

(Marvel Zombies Return#5 (fb) - BTS) - Teaming up, Hulk and Sentry devoured entire zip codes but Sentry soon turned on Hulk and attempted to rip Hulk's head off, only to fail. As Earth-2149's zombie plague spread through Earth-Z, infected heroes attacked the United Nations general assembly, forcing them to barricade themselves in the Secretariat building. After the Sub-Mariner was infected, Attuma and his undersea legions held up in the Marianas Trench but Sub-Mariner erupted up from beneath them. Working together, the surviving zombies eventually attacked a women's prison that Quasar encased with an energy bubble and the prisoners clawed at the energy construct in an attempt to escape, only to be devoured by Thundra. At some point, many of Earth-Z's heroes were killed by those infected by Earth-2149's zombie plague and the remaining zombies took up residence in the remnants of Avengers Tower and began calling themselves the Avengers. Unbeknownst to the Avengers, Spider-Man-2149 had allied with Iron Man, who brought Spider-Man-2149 Tony Stark's old nanometer machine cure. Realizing that the cure had been ingested, Spider-Man-2149 located Earth-Z's Sandman and the two agreed to work together to stop the zombie plague. Inoculating Sandman with his vaccine and injected the Stark nanometer machines into Sandman's body, Spider-Man-2149 effectively made Sandman a living cure for the zombie plague.

(Marvel Zombies Return#5 (fb)) - When the zombie Avengers attacked members of the Security Council, several shrinking heroes attempted to stop the Sentry by shrinking inside the Sentry's body but Sentry caught them before they could accomplish their goal and eating them all like popcorn. Eventually, Earth-2149's Wasp, who had been transported into Earth-Z's Kree Empire when the other Earth-2149 zombies were transported to Earth-Z, infected the Kree and led them against Earth-Z's surviving zombies but the survivors destroyed Wasp and mounted her brain in the Avengers Tower trophy room. Earth-2149's Cage, who had materialized in Earth-Z's Shi'ar Empire, led the Imperial Guard against the surviving Earth-Z zombies but they too were defeated and Cage-2149 was destroyed, his brain also added to the Avengers' trophy room. Earth-2149's zombie Black Panther, who had materialized in the Skrull Empire, led an army of the greatest Skrull warriors against the Avengers but again, the Avengers were victorious and Black Panther's head was mounted in the Avengers' trophy room. Despite working out an understanding with Earth-Z's zombie Wolverine, the Avengers nonetheless devoured Kitty Pryde, forcing her to go solid by having Quasar hold her underwater.

(Marvel Zombies Return#5) - The surviving zombies sat at the meeting table in Avengers Tower and discussed their favorite moments devouring the flesh of their opponents until Super-Skrull interrupted, exclaiming that the trophy room in Avengers Tower only reminded them that there were no more foes to feast on. Super-Skrull then opened communication between Avengers Tower and Earth-Z's moon, where Earth-2149's Giant-Man was still working on getting the zombies access to other realities. After the Super-Skrull demanded a progress report, Giant-Man-2149 revealed that the Watcher's technology was designed to prevent access and Giant-Man was having difficulties breaking the code despite the addition of the deceased brains of Earth-Z's Egghead, Goliath and others. Sentry and the other Avengers then berated Giant-Man-2149 for his lack of progress until Earth-Z's zombie Professor Xavier located new food in the Savage Land using his Cerebro computers. Locating a finger, the Avengers touched down in the Savage Land, only to have their Quinjet blown up by the zombie-killing New Avengers, consisting of Iron Man, Earth-Z's zombie Hulk and Wolverine, and Earth-2149's Spider-Man. When Sentry demanded to know where they found the finger, Iron Man revealed that he was still unaffected by the zombie plague, having removed any part of him that got bit by zombies and sacrificed a finger to lure the Avengers there. The two Avengers team then battled each other and Moon Knight ordered Thundra to retrieve the device on Spider-Man-2149's back but Thundra was ripped in half by Hulk before she could do so. Quicksilver managed to retrieve the weapon but Spider-Man-2149 snagged Quicksilver with his arteries and ripped Quicksilver's head off. Quicksilver's headless body ran around with Spider-Man-2149's weapon as the zombie Quasar faced off against Iron Man and Earth-Z's Wolverine fought Sentry, refusing to forgive the Avengers for devouring Kitty Pryde. Earth-Z's Wolverine managed to penetrate Sentry's ribcage with his claws, threatening to unleash Sentry's contained power but all present were then teleported to the moon by Giant-Man-2149, who revealed that he had known for years how the Watcher's dimensional transporter worked. Explaining that the dimensional transporter had needed a power source, Giant-Man-2149 announced his plans to use the Sentry himself as a power source but Spider-Man-2149 ordered the New Avengers to stop Giant-Man-2149 at all costs. Spider-Man-2149 then hurled his canister weapon and Earth-Z's Wolverine sliced it open, revealing a patch of sand. Laughing at the idea of sand defeating his zombies, Giant-Man-2149 was surprised when the sand became Sandman, whom Spider-Man-2149 announced had been transformed into a living zombie plague cure. Transforming himself into a sandstorm, Sandman swirled around, getting his cure-containing granules into the mouths of every zombie present, including the heroic Spider-Man-2149 and Earth Z Wolverine. Sentry remained trapped in Giant-Man-2149's power source device while all other zombies eroded into dust, having been destroyed from within by the cure. Spider-Man-2149 died thanking Sandman for his assistance and whispering that Mary Jane and Aunt May had been avenged. Sandman replied with a "good riddance" as Uatu the Watcher reappeared, much to the surprise of Sandman, who had been told the Watcher was dead. Uatu revealed that the Watchers had long ago abandoned their corporeal forms in favor of energy forms and that Giant-Man-2149 actually had not truly eaten him at all. Revealing that he had been observing events for decades in his energy form, Uatu explained that the zombie plague could not be undone but it could be contained. Uatu then activated his dimensional transporter and sent Earth-Z's Sentry to Earth-2149's past, where he infected Earth-2149 with the zombie plague, creating a temporal loop that contained the zombie plague to those two realities.

Comments: Created by "Undead" Fred Van Lente and "Sick" Nick Dragotta.

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Earth-Z has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Marvel Zombies Return#4, p15, pan4 (Hulk looking at Earth-Z, main image)
Marvel Zombies Return#1, p3, pan4 (Earth-2149's Spider-Man viewing Earth-Z's Manhattan)
Marvel Zombies Return#2, p8, pan2 (The zombie outbreak at Earth-Z's Stark Industries)
Marvel Zombies Return#3, p1, pan3 (Kitty Pryde running through Earth-Z's Tokyo)
Marvel Zombies Return#4, p3, pan1 (Hulk arriving at Earth-Z's Attilan on the moon)
Marvel Zombies Return#4, p4, pan4 (Hulk seeing the zombie Black Bolt & Medusa standing over Inhuman corpses)
Marvel Zombies Return#5, p1-2, splash page (Earth-Z's destroyed Avengers Tower & hero corpses)

Appearances:
Marvel Zombies Return#1 (November, 2009) - "Undead" Fred Van Lente (writer), "Sick" Nick Dragotta (art), Bill "Blood-Red" Rosemann (editor)
Marvel Zombies Return#2 (November, 2009) - David Wellington (writer), Andrea Mutti (art), Bill Rosemann (editor)
Marvel Zombies Return#3 (November, 2009) - Jonathan Maberry (writer), Jason Shawn Alexander (art), Bill Rosemann (editor)
Marvel Zombies Return#4 (November, 2009) - Seth Grahame-Smith (writer), Richard Elson (art), Bill Rosemann (editor)
Marvel Zombies Return#5 (November, 2009) - Fred Van Lente (writer), Wellington Alves (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Bill Rosemann (editor)

First Posted: 09/28/2018
Last updated: 09/28/2018

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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