EARTH-92130
Type:
Alternate Earth;
Core Continuum Designation: Earth-92130
Environment: None (destroyed by Maelstrom and Thanos)
Usual means of access: Uatu's Interdimensional Portal
Dominant Life Form: Formerly humans
Significant Inhabitants: Maelstrom, Quasar (presumably Wendell Elvis Vaughn, deceased), Thanos, the Watcher (Uatu, deceased)
First Appearance: Quasar#30 (January, 1992)
History:
(Quasar#30 (fb) - BTS) - Earth-92130 existed in a reality that was apparently identical (or very
similar) to that of Earth-616 prior to the time when Quasar defeated Maelstrom, the cosmic menace that Eon
had appointed him Protector of the Universe specifically to combat. However, under circumstances that have
never been revealed, in this reality Maelstrom killed Quasar and continued to menace the cosmos.
(Quasar#30 (fb) - BTS) - For some unrevealed reason, despite having killed Quasar, Maelstrom was apparently unable to take possession of the Quantum-Bands. Or maybe he just didn't want them?
(Quasar#30 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, a divergent version of the Living Laser entered this reality via the Watcher's interdimensional portal. What happened to him afterwards is unrevealed.
(Quasar#30 (fb) - BTS) - After killing Quasar, Maelstrom's plans brought him into conflict with Thanos the Mad Titan who had somehow gained enough "omnipotent" power to become Maelstrom's equal.
(Quasar#30 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, either Maelstrom or Thanos dealt with the Watcher stationed on Earth's Moon, leaving him either mortally wounded or weakened into helplessness.
(Quasar#30 (fb) - BTS) - At some point during their conflict, Maelstrom and Thanos both caused their bodies to expand until they were millions of miles tall, and they began to play tug-of-war with Earth's Sun. The forces that their struggle exerted upon the Sun caused it to generate a massive solar flare that vaporized both Earth and the Moon.
(Quasar#30) - The Quasar from Earth-616 arrived on the Moon via the interdimensional portal in the Watcher's citadel and the first thing he saw was the local Watcher lying nearby, helpless. The Watcher only managed to whisper, "all...over..." before his body and his citadel were destroyed in the thermonuclear blast of the solar flare that vaporized the Moon. Quasar-616 managed to survive by creating a spherical energy-shield around himself and then quantum-jumping ten light minutes away in the opposite direction to that from which the blast had come.
(Quasar#30) - Taking a look around to determine what had happened, Quasar-616 was shocked to see the huge forms of Maelstrom and Thanos as they played tug-of-war with the Sun and realized that it had been a massive solar flare caused by their struggle that had vaporized both Earth and the Moon, killing all of humanity in the process. Unsure of what, if anything, he should do, Quasar continued to watch the two villains as they continued their battle by "messing with the Sun something fierce" and causing it to rapidly expand. Quasar barely had time to realize that he was probably in a reality where his counterpart had been killed by Maelstrom and to wonder what Thanos could have done to become Maelstrom's equal when the Sun exploded as a nova.
(Quasar#30) - Realizing that there was nothing that he could do, Quasar was thinking about leaving
to find a Watcher in another sector of space and use his portal to return home when he realized that Maelstrom had
noticed him. Quasar turned and prepared to quantum-jump "way way out of here" as Maelstrom stated,
"I THOUGHT I HAD KILLED YOU, SPECK!"
Then, as Quasar opened a warp into the Quantum Zone, Maelstrom directed a
burst of incomprehensible force at him.
(Quasar#30) - Having made it into the Quantum Zone and with the warp closing behind him, Quasar-616 thought he was safe...until he realized that there was something behind him!
(Quasar#31 (fb) - BTS) - These recent events from Reality-92130 were monitored and recorded by the Watcher Uatu who was native to Reality-616. From his abode on the Moon of Earth-616, this Uatu watched the final moments of Quasar's presence in that reality time and time again, and he scanned all of the adjacent realities looking for Quasar without success.
(Quasar#31 - BTS) - As Uatu-616 was confronted in his home by Quasar's companion Her and explained to Her that Quasar was either dead or somewhere in the Omniverse beyond the Multiverse into which he could peer, video screens behind him displayed images of Maelstrom and Thanos as they continued to battle each other in Reality-92130.
The ultimate victor in the battle
between Maelstrom and Thanos is unrevealed. They may have continued to
fight until their reality was destroyed by the Beyonders.
Or maybe one or both of them destroyed
Reality-92130 before the Beyonders had a chance to do so.
Comments: Created by Mark Gruenwald, Joel Zulleta and Pat Broderick-N-Co, and Fred Fredericks.
"Calling All Lasers" is the first Marvel story in which the idea that beings could "diverge in transit" while traveling though interdimensional portals was presented. Since this would mean that travelers would essentially replicate themselves with every trip through such portals, why hasn't there been any evidence of such replication having happened before in the long history of the universe? Inquiring minds want to know what made this case of interdimensional travel so different.
Now that I think about it, another thing that inquiring minds would like to know is what eventually happened to the seven divergent Living Lasers that Quasar absorbed into his Quantum-Bands. As far as I know, after this issue, they were never even mentioned again, even though Quasar had promised the first one to be absorbed that he would let his energy out as soon as they got home. And even assuming that Quasar did release that energy BTS at some point, what happened to it/them then? Did the energy merge with the original Living Laser or did it continue to exist in the form of those seven replicated LL counterparts?
One would expect that any Thanos who was wearing an Infinity Gauntlet would be able to deal with Maelstrom as easily as Thanos-616 handled the Cosmic Entities (including Eternity) in Infinity Gauntlet#5. Having said that, it's worth noting that, when Maelstrom-616 appeared before Thanos-616 in Quasar#24 and mocked him, the enraged Thanos responded by trying to destroy him with a blast of energy from the Infinity Gauntlet. However, Maelstrom was unaffected by that blast, suggesting that being the embodiment of the concept of Anomaly may have placed him beyond the power of the Infinity Gems. Alternatively, it could be that Thanos was unable to destroy Maelstrom with that blast only because he was unaware of who and what his foe truly was and that, once he understood Maelstrom's nature and/or became more adept at using the Infinity Gems, then he would have been able to use them against his enemy.
Math Problem
When Uatu sent Quasar to retrieve the divergent Living Lasers, he stated
that there were "seven at present" but "more if he (was) not stopped." However, Quasar ended up visiting EIGHT
Alternate Earths before being lost in the Omniverse. The problem is not that Quasar ending up trying to catch eight
Living Lasers (because Uatu had said that there would soon be more) or that Quasar had apparently miscounted
the number of divergent Lasers that he had captured (because he himself thought "Unless I've lost count"). No,
the problem lies in the fact that the Omniscient Narrative described the reality where Quasar found his giant-sized
counterpart battling an equally-giant seven-headed Set as "the second to last of the seven Alternate Earths the
Watcher told him (Quasar) to locate a renegade Laser" when that reality actually WAS the seventh Earth.
• The first Alternate Earth was
Earth-82432 (Earth-Korvac conquers
the Universe) from What If? I#32. Quasar absorbed the Living Laser into his Quantum-Bands and barely made it
through the portal to the second Alternate Earth before Korvac used the Ultimate Nullifier to destroy that universe.
Note: There is a slight continuity error associated with Quasar's visit to this doomed Alternate
Reality that I will describe (and, hopefully, explain away) further down in this Comments section.
• The second Alternate Earth was Earth-89721 (Earth-Evolutionary War) from What If...? II#1. Quasar found and absorbed the Living Laser just after the Godlike Ones had left Earth.
• The third Alternate Earth was Earth-906 (Earth-Captain Marvel Had Not Died) from What If...? II#14. Quasar's retrieval of the LL was not shown.
• The fourth Alternate Earth was
Earth-9140 (Earth-Wolverine,
Lord of the Vampires - Punisher Triumphant) from What If...? II#24. Quasar's retrieval of the LL was not shown.
Note: This Alternate Earth was definitely NOT the divergent
Earth-9250 (Earth-Wolverine,
Lord of the Vampires - Punisher Defeated) from What If...? II#37 because that story was not published until a few
months after Quasar #30.
• The fifth Alternate Earth was Earth-9112 (Earth-Phoenix Had Not Died and Rose Again) from What If...? II#32-33. Or it could have been Earth-81727 (Earth-Phoenix Had Not Died) from What If? I#27. In either case, Quasar's retrieval of the LL was not shown.
• The sixth Alternate Earth was Earth-1089 (Earth-Symbiote Possessed Spider-Man) from What If...? II#4. Quasar's retrieval of the LL was not shown.
• The seventh Alternate Earth was Earth-9151 (Earth-Set Conquered the Universe) from What If...? II#25. However, the Omniscient Narrative describes this timeline as "the second to last of the seven alternate Earths the Watcher told (Quasar) to locate a renegade Laser." As he headed to the portal on the Moon, Quasar thought to himself that he had "the local Laser under wraps" and "unless I've lost count, I've just one more stop and the Watcher can get himself a new errand boy."
• The next Alternate Earth was the one described in this profile and it was, although neither Quasar nor the Omniscient Narrative realized it, the EIGHTH Alternate Earth to be visited by Quasar. However, due to what was happening in this reality, Quasar didn't have an opportunity to track down and absorb the divergent LL who had ended up in that timeline before he tried to flee from Maelstrom by opening a warp into the Quantum Zone...
Maelstrom's burst of power sent Quasar beyond the Multiverse and into the greater Omniverse. Quasar ended up on the Earth of the New Universe (Earth-148611) where he obtained the Starbrand that enabled him to return to Earth-616.
Continuity Error
In the first Alternate Reality visited by Quasar-616, he seemingly arrived through
the portal on the Moon and immediately left to seek out the divergent Living Laser. Quasar was VERY surprised to find
a finds giant yellow-skinned humanoid (Korvac) sitting on the Earth and facing off against a huge space armada and
that reality's version of Uatu. Deciding to not get involved, Quasar quickly tracked down the Living Laser, absorbed
him into the Quantum-bands and then quantum-jumped directly to the room in the Watcher's citadel that contained
the interdimensional portal which he then used just as Korvac Nullified that reality.
I really enjoyed that original What If? story and was pleased to revisit it but, sadly, this newer story contains a significant glitch. Specifically, in What If? I#32, the Moon was DESTROYED, shattered by the struggle between Korvac and the Stranger into "lunar particles" that formed a ring around the Earth. And then, if that wasn't enough, that ring was vaporized when the Living Tribunal attempted to mete out his ultimate punishment by causing the Sun to go nova and expand to briefly swallow Earth.
So, if the Moon had been shattered and vaporized before the huge alien armada had arrived to confront Korvac, how could the portal (and the Moon) still be there for Quasar to arrive at that time? As I see it, there are only two possible explanations. The first is that, despite what Mark Gruenwald intended, this doomed Alternate Reality is not actually the one depicted in What If? I#32 but a divergent reality that is very similar to Reality-82432. The downside to this explanation is that having two realities destroyed by Korvac using the Ultimate Nullifier contradicts the "fact" that, as established in What If? I#43, that reality's Eternity was the only one of the nigh-infinite number of aspects that comprised its totality to succumb to Death. This would undercut the impact of the original story.
The second possible explanation is that Quasar-616 somehow managed to arrive through the interdimensional portal, find and absorb the Living Laser, and then return to and pass through the portal again, all WITHOUT NOTICING that the Moon had been destroyed. As unlikely as this seems, it's not totally unworkable. The story itself shows that, after Quasar told the captured Laser that their next stop was the Moon, he actually transported them there by making a quantum-jump from space directly into the chamber containing the interdimensional portal. If we were to ASSume that the Watcher's citadel survived the destruction of the Moon and the heat from the nova, and that Quasar, after arriving through the portal, had actually used his Quantum-Bands to quantum-jump some distance away, then it's possible that he never saw exactly where the chamber containing the portal actually was and just assumed that it was on an intact Moon. One could also argue that, while out in space, Quasar may have assumed that the Moon was hidden behind the huge space armada that the Watcher had gathered. Since this explanation requires that certain assumptions be made, it's not an ideal solution but, on the whole, it seems preferable to doubling the number of realities destroyed by Korvac. Others may disagree.
Divergence Point
The most significant detail about this reality that was not revealed was exactly
WHEN it diverged from Reality-616. Based on the fact that the native Maelstrom claimed to have killed his
reality's Quasar, the obvious divergence point would be during the "Cosmos In Collision" storyline. Maybe this Quasar
was killed by this Maelstrom (as happened to Quasar-616 in Quasar#22) but, unlike what happened in Reality-616, for
some reason the Abstract Being Infinity did not (or could not) pluck him from Death's embrace and provide him with a
new energy-body.
As I said, this is the obvious answer but it does leave some questions unanswered. For one thing, after killing Quasar-616, Maelstrom-616 put on the Quantum-Bands and soon afterwards put his plan to cause the universe to contract into a single point into action. Did this Maelstrom do that as well? If so, then who stopped him? Maybe, as unlikely as it sounds, it was Thanos? Perhaps that was the reason why they were fighting?
Speaking of Thanos-92130, during the "Cosmos In Collision" storyline, his Earth-616 counterpart had already had the Infinity Gauntlet in his possession for months so it would make sense that this Thanos had one as well. However, from what can be seen of his left gauntlet, there did not seem to be any Infinity Gems on it. Was this an artistic oversight or did his power come from some other source? If it was the latter, this would definitely mean that there must have been an unrevealed but VERY significant divergence.
Basically, the problem with trying to determine the divergence point is that so little information about this reality was revealed that any theory that could be developed to explain it would have to be based primarily on ASSumptions.
As a minor point, while all life on this Earth was destroyed, any
humans off-Earth, such as, for example, Corsair (Christopher Summers)
of the Starjammers, would have at least outlasted that. The fate of the
rest of universe remains unrevealed beyond that...
--Snood
Profile by Donald Campbell.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Earth-92130 should not be confused with:
The star around which the planet Earth that existed in Reality-92130 orbited, the Sun was the ultimate source of life on that planet. It was a G-type main-sequence star (a yellow dwarf) that formed within a region of a large molecular cloud about 4.6 billion years ago. Life evolved on its third planet, later known as Earth, and eventually resulted in an intelligent species of humanoids who developed somewhat advanced technology.
And then, when the Sun still had 5 billion years left before its main sequence phase would end and it would expand into a red giant, two sentient beings were born who were related to the race of humanoids on its third planet. Both of these individuals, Thanos and Maelstrom, developed genocidal personalities and both gained "omnipotent" levels of power.
After coming into conflict, Maelstrom and Thanos both used their powers to hyper-expand their bodies until they were millions of miles tall, and then they began to play tug-of-war with the Sun. Being mishandled in this manner caused the Sun to generate a massive solar flare that vaporized both the planet Earth and its Moon, wiping out (almost) all of humanity. As Maelstrom and Thanos continued their battle, they "messed with the Sun something fierce" and caused it to begin "expanding like mad!" Seconds later, Maelstrom and Thanos blew up the Sun by (somehow) making it "go nova."
--Quasar#30
Note: It should be mentioned that "novas" only occur in binary star systems which contain either a white dwarf or a neutron star. If Quasar meant to say that the villains made the Sun go supernova, then that should have been impossible because the only stars that can become supernovae are those whose initial masses are at least 8 times that of the Sun. So, the Sun should NEVER become a supernova and it's hard to imagine ANY form of weapon that could somehow make any lower-massed stars explode like a supernova.
A cosmic menace in Reality-92130, he was presumably a counterpart of the Maelstrom from Reality-616. Given how recently the two realities were believed to have diverged, his life was probably identical to that of Maelstrom-616 up until the point of divergence.
Maelstrom was the hybrid offspring of an Inhuman father and a Deviant mother who possessed the ability to absorb and control kinetic energy. After a scheme to gain great power by stopping Earth's rotation was thwarted by the Avengers, Maelstrom's physical body was hyper-expanded so much that he became completely intangible and invisible to mortal beings and instrumentation. In this state, he encountered Kronos, an Eternal whose molecules had been similarly dispersed, who revealed to him the existence of the powerful Abstract Entities of the universe. It is presumed that this Maelstrom, like his counterpart from Reality-616, gained his vast power by killing and replacing the Abstract Entity known as Anomaly. This Maelstrom presumably then also became a servant of the Abstract Entity Oblivion.
At some point, this Maelstrom encountered and killed his reality's version of Quasar and may have claimed the Quantum-Bands for himself and used them in a plan to cause the universe to contract into a single point into action. Alternatively, Maelstrom may have had some other plan to destroy the universe, one that did not require that he put on the Quantum-Bands, so he didn't.
In either case, Maelstrom eventually came into conflict with Thanos who had also attained an "omnipotent" level of power, possibly by assembling his reality's version of the Infinity Gauntlet. During their ensuing battle, Maelstrom and Thanos both caused their bodies to expand until they were millions of miles tall and they began to play tug-of-war with Earth's Sun, exerting forces upon the Sun that caused it to generate a massive solar flare that vaporized both Earth and the Moon. Their continued struggle over the Sun caused it to rapidly expand and it soon exploded as a nova.
In the aftermath of the Sun's destruction, Maelstrom and Thanos resorted to hand-to-hand combat and began wrestling with each other. However, as the embodiment of Anomaly, Maelstrom was able to notice and recognize Quasar-616, despite the fact that Quasar was smaller than a mote of dust compared to him, and stated, "I THOUGHT I HAD KILLED YOU, SPECK!"
Realizing that he was facing a foe whose power was way out of his league, Quasar-616 sensibly decided to flee by quantum-jumping far far away from there. However, as he opened a warp into the Quantum Zone, Maelstrom directed a burst of incomprehensible force at him. Quasar-616 made it into the Quantum Zone and briefly thought that he was safe but then realized that Maelstrom's blast had also entered the Quantum Zone before the warp he'd opened had been able to close. As a result, Quasar-616 was sent beyond the Multiverse and into the greater Omniverse, and he ended up crashing on the Earth of the New Universe.
Having dealt with this minor distraction, Maelstrom resumed his battle with Thanos.
--Quasar#30-31
Apparently a counterpart of Quasar (Wendell Elvis Vaughn) from Reality-616, he was presumably the Protector of the Universe in Reality-92130 whose life was probably identical to that of Quasar-616 up until the point of divergence. This Quasar had presumably also been appointed Protector by his reality's Eon in order to safeguard that universe from the greatest threat to its existence that that Eon had ever perceived. Unfortunately for the universe, that threat was Maelstrom who was able to kill this Quasar in circumstances that have not yet been described.
However, since the exact point at which this reality diverged from Reality-616 has never been revealed, it's possible that the divergence occurred well before Quasar-616 first encountered Maelstrom-616. If so, then his life could have been significantly different from that of Quasar-616. Among other possibilities, this Vaughn may have never met Eon and thus never been appointed Protector of the Universe. Similarly, this Vaughn may have never traveled to Uranus or served as the Security Chief at Project Pegasus or even started using "Quasar" as his alias.
Like his Earth-616 counterpart, this Quasar presumably wore the Quantum-Bands that granted him a great ability to manipulate energy. These alien devices were bonded to his wrists and would not detach until their wielder had died. Since Quasar's killer did not appear to be wearing them during his struggle with Thanos, the fate of this particular pair of Quantum-Bands is unrevealed.
--Quasar#30 (fb) - BTS
The Mad Titan who existed in Reality-92130, he was presumably a counterpart of the Thanos from Reality-616. Given how recently the two realities were believed to have diverged, his life was probably identical to that of Thanos-616 up until the point of divergence.
Thanos was born hundreds (or thousands) of Earth-years ago on Titan, the largest moon orbiting the planet Saturn. He is the biological son of two Eternals, Mentor (A'Lars) and Sui-San, and a grandson of Kronos. Despite his unusual appearance, Thanos initially seemed to have a normal personality. However, by the time he was a teenager, Thanos had accepted his true murderous nature, possibly due to the influence of the Abstract Entity Death, and he fled from Titan after murdering and vivisecting his own mother.
Years (or decades or centuries) later, after having fallen in love with Mistress Death, Thanos managed to obtain the power object known as the Cosmic Cube which he used to give him control over the entire universe but was defeated by the Kree Captain Mar-Vell. Thanos later gathered the six Soul Gems and combined them into a weapon which he planned to use to commit total stellar genocide by destroying every star in the universe as an offering to Death but was turned to stone by Adam Warlock. Years later, Thanos was resurrected by Mistress Death. It is presumed that this Thanos, like his Earth-616 counterpart, learned the true nature of the Soul Gems (which he renamed the Infinity Gems) and gathered them again to form the Infinity Gauntlet which gave him complete control over the universe. However, since this Thanos was never shown wearing the Infinity Gauntlet, it's possible that he had actually acquired his "omnipotent power" from some other source.
Eventually, Thanos came into conflict with Maelstrom. During their ensuing battle, Thanos and Maelstrom both caused their bodies to expand until they were millions of miles tall and they began to play tug-of-war with Earth's Sun, exerting forces upon the Sun that caused it to generate a massive solar flare that vaporized both Earth and the Moon. Their continued struggle over the Sun eventually caused it to rapidly expand and then explode as a nova.
Intent on vanquishing Maelstrom, Thanos apparently never even noticed the temporary presence of Quasar-616. Following the destruction of the Sun, Thanos and Maelstrom resorted to hand-to-hand combat and began wrestling with each other.
--Quasar#30-31
Note: A helpful footnote in Quasar#30 explains that, "Although Quasar met Thanos in Quasar #26 and Infinity Gauntlet #3, due to the events of Infinity Gauntlet #6, he has no memory of this!" In fact, Nebula's use of the Infinity Gauntlet also caused Quasar to forget that Thanos killed him in Infinity Gauntlet #4 as well as his interaction with Epoch in Infinity Gauntlet #2.
The Watcher who was stationed on Earth's Moon in Reality-92130, he was presumably a counterpart of Uatu from Reality-616. Given how recently the two realities were believed to have diverged, his life was probably identical to that of Uatu-616 up until the point of divergence.
This Watcher is presumed to have had the same vast powers as a normal member of his race. Additionally, like many (or all) versions of Uatu, this Watcher had an interdimensional portal through which he could observe alternate timelines.
For some reason, this Watcher was attacked by either Maelstrom or Thanos. Left in a weakened or mortally wounded state, this Watcher was lying on the floor in his citadel when the Quasar from Earth-616 emerged from the portal. The Watcher barely had time to whisper "all...over..." when a thermonuclear blast (from a massive solar flare) destroyed him, his portal, his citadel and the Moon.
--Quasar#30
images:
Quasar#30, page 19, panel 4 (main image)
page 20, panel 1 (the Sun being messed with by Maelstrom and Thanos)
page 21 (Maelstrom speaks to Quasar)
page 22, panels 2-3 (Maelstrom sends a blast towards Quasar)
page 20, panel 4 (Thanos grappling with Maelstrom)
page 20, panel 4 (closer view of the left gauntlet Thanos was wearing)
page 18, panel 2 (the Watcher speaking his last words to Quasar)
Appearances:
Quasar#30 (January, 1992) - Mark Gruenwald (story), Joel Zulleta and Pat Broderick-N-Co (pencils), Fred Fredericks
(inks), Kelly Corvese (editor)
Quasar#31 (February, 1992) - Mark Gruenwald (story), Greg Capullo (pencils), Harry
Canelario (inks), Kelly Corvese (editor)
First Posted: 06/26/2022
Last updated: 06/26/2022
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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