pilgrims_rock-ff3-41-dwellingsPILGRIMS ROCK

Official Name: Pilgrims Rock

Nature: Planet/planetoid within the other-dimensional Negative Zone (aka Negaverse);
    it was within relative proximity to the unidentified world assaulted by the N-Explorers;

Natives: Unrevealed (possibly the skeletons of the beings the Puritans found upon settling there)

Residents: Pandorans/Puritan of Pilgrims Rock (Hellscout/Kenneth Tennyson, Jacob (surname presumably Tennyson), Martha (married name presumably Tennyson, deceased), Tyndale; others unidentified)

Affiliations: Alpha Primitives, Maximus; Counter-Earth's Franklin Richards archetype/program

Enemies: Annihilus, Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom), unidentified "aliens"/Negative Zone inhabitants that they fought off;
    indirectly Gideon Trust (Colonel, Janus, other), N-Explorers (Trapster (Peter Petruski), Travers, Travis, Vasquez)

Population: Unrevealed (perhaps dozens to hundreds) 

Government: Apparently led, spiritually at least, by Jacob

Languages: Olde English

Defense: The Puritans of Pilgrims Rock wielded energy rifles they referred to as flintlocks.

Places of Interest: Pandora

Visitors: Counter-Earth's Franklin Richards archetype/program, Counter Earth's Cynthia von Doom duplicate, Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom), Fantastic Four (Invisible Woman/Sue Richards, Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Ben Grimm), Gornkai

Aliases: Pilgrim Rock, Pilgrim's Rock (see comments)

pilgrims_rock-ff3-41-dwellings-interiorPowers/abilities/technology: Pilgrims Rock was a rocky landmass floating in the breathable space of the Negative Zone. It seemed to have Earth-like gravity.

     The Pandorans/Puritans of Pilgrims Rock had some experience as sailors, but over four centuries they adapted to the environment, alien presences, and technology they found on the world they designated Pilgrims Rock.

    They dwell within more advanced technological housings -- which they presumably found and occupied, but possibly constructed -- carved or built into the rocky sides of a cavern.

    The have/had a single starship typically used by Hellscout, until  it was stolen by Doom.

Traits: The Pandorans maintained their Puritan beliefs and superstitions, considering alien phenomena or superhuman beings to be demons, witches, or some other tool of Satan (see comments).

First Appearance: (Pandora and Pilgrims Rock (latter unidentified) Fantastic Four III#40 (April, 2001)
    (Pilgrims Rock identified) Fantastic Four III#41 (May, 2001)

History: 

pilgrims_rock-ff3-41-dwellings-settling-skeletonspilgrims_rock-ff3-41-dwellings-settling-sky(Fantastic Four III#41 (fb)) - In the 17th century A.D., The Pandora, carrying a crew of Puritans, set forth from Amsterdam in search of the New World, following the likes of Columbus and the Virginia settlers. 

    A massive storm -- like none other caused the seas to roll and the sky to turn black as pitch. Ultimately, a whirlpool caused the ocean to open and swallow the Pandora, transporting it and its crew to the Negative Zone. 

(Fantastic Four III#41 (fb) - BTS) - Per Reed Richards' speculation, the Pilgrims obviously did not open a portal to the Negaverse, so one was most likely opened in the Negative Zone (by unidentified parties, presumably to gain access to Earth), and it pulled them into it.

(Fantastic Four III#41 (fb) - BTS) - Though fearing their sins had brought them to some Hellish realm, guided by their strong faith and their desire to protect their young, the Puritans defended the land around the Pandora, fighting off the aliens that threatened them. 

(Fantastic Four III#41 (fb)) - Accepting that the Lord worked in mysterious ways, these Puritans settled there, and they found their lot to be as gatekeepers and discoverers, exploring and learning from the machines and tools left behind by beings unidentified. 

(Fantastic Four III#41 (fb) - BTS) - The Puritans encountered Annihilus and considered him to be "the Devil himself," and they prevented him from leaving the Negative Zone via any portal near them. 

(Fantastic Four III#41 (fb) - BTS) - The tale was handed down from generation to generation.

(Doom: The Emperor Returns#3 (fb) - BTS) - A succession of one of their number, known as the Hellscout, guarded the portal into the Negative Zone, which they considered Hell, for centuries (see comments).

(Fantastic Four III#41 (fb) - BTS) - In recent years, Kenneth Tennyson, the son of Pilgrims Rock's leader, Jacob, became the most recent Hellscout.

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pilgrims_rock-ff3-41-graveyardpilgrims_rock-ff3-41-alarm(Fantastic Four III#40 - BTS) - Seeking to investigate the N-Explorers, three of the Fantastic Four (Invisible Woman/Sue Richards, Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Ben Grimm) headed into the Negative Zone. 

     Within the Distortion Area, they were ambushed by the N-Explorers, who blew up their ship. They escaped aid from resident dragon-creatures, who song opened a dimensional wormhole, transporting them into the Negative Zone, on Pilgrims Rock, although they had no idea of their position within the Zone. 

They were surprised to find the Pandora, an old and terrestrial ship.

(Fantastic Four III#41 (fb) - BTS) - The Fantastic Four explored the Pandora, finding evidence of olde English language before discovering a group of Puritans conducting a funeral service for their lost member Martha. 
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pilgrims_rock-ff3-41-armed     An alarm suddenly sounded, and Jacob noted the presence of intruders.

     Although Sue turned the Four invisible, the blind Jacob's "second sense" allowed him to advise the Puritans to seek the intruders within the bowels of their ship, and he encouraged them to smite whatever demons had come to test their faith yet again.

pilgrims_rock-ff3-41-firing

    As the Puritans fired blaster weapons, Reed asked Sue to maintain the force field but to drop her invisibility cloak from himself and Ben.

Ben and Reed then appeared before the Puritans, asking them to lower their weapons as they meant no harm, but the intruders' inhuman forms and/or powers only convinced the Puritans that they were facing demons. 

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     Reed and Ben disarmed a number of the Puritans, who noted that they spoke English, although some considered this more of Satan's work. 

     Assuring the Puritans that Satan had nothing to do with this and that they were from Earth, Reed asked them to cease fire so they could speak to each other. After the Puritans ceased fire, Reed snared the Bible (King James edition) from Jacob.

     While another of the Puritans denounced Sue as a witch, Jacob silenced him, suggesting they let the intruders reveal their true natures, and -- at Sue's guidance -- Reed eased the Puritans concerns by reading from the Bible with impunity. 


pilgrims_rock-ff3-41-kids

    Jacob considered that no demon could read from the Good Book without bursting into flame -- at which point Ben noted that it was good the Torch wasn't there -- and he told the Four that "mayhap" he had judged the intruders too quickly. After Reed countered that it was his own group that should apologize for the intrusion at an apparent burial service, Jacob confirmed that it was for his wife, Martha. Reed offered his condolences and asked that she rest in peace, and Jacob blessed him. 

    As the Puritans welcomed the Four into their settlement, Ben noted, "Nice digs," which confused the Puritans until Reed explained that Ben was indicating how impressive their settlement was. After Jacob noted, "When our forefathers set forth for a new world, this was hardly what they intended,"  Reed asked what was the place, if they were from Earth, and how they entered the Negative Zone. Although not having heard the realm called that, Jacob lit his pipe and related the tale he had been told by his ancestors. 

    When Jacob noted that they stood in Hell and kept the devil himself from leaving their God-forsaken place, Reed correctly surmised that Jacob was referring to Annihilus. Reed subsequently confided in Jacob that Ben's condition was a result of a miscalculation on his part, while Sue noted her hunger and asked what they had to eat.

(Fantastic Four III#41) - Returning to Pilgrims Rock, Hellscout saw the monstrous Thing with a number of children, and he shot the Thing, warning him to step away from the children or his next shot would lay him in the grave. After a brief struggle, Reed and Sue arrived alongside Hellscout's father, who proclaimed the Thing a friend; Hellscout noted that if Ben was a friend of his father's, he would be his friend as well.

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pilgrims_rock-ff3-41-explosion




    Later, as the N-Explorers began to access an energy source they found in the Negative Zone in the process of slaughtering those who utilized it, a powerful energy wave racked Pilgrim's Rock, and Jacob uncomfortably sensed a disturbance, as if some great evil had been unleashed. After Reed noted his concerns that others from Earth were weakening the infrastructure of the wall/barrier between Earth and the Negative Zone, jeopardizing both universes, Hellscout noted that the Four must join him and that he would track those others down.

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(Doom: The Emperor Returns#2) - Seeking to return to Earth from Franklin Richards' Counter-Earth with power usurped from that latter world's Franklin Richards' manifestation, Doom traveled though a portal to the Negative Zone. Doom's arrival was apparently detected by Hellscout and Gornkai.

(Doom: The Emperor Returns#3 - BTS) - Hellscout and Gornkai watched as an immense creature (see comments) attempted to consume Doom's ship, and Hellscout noted that "whatever his motives for entering this cursed plane, they be as dust. He be food for the worm and no more." After Gornkai noted that Doom had jettisoned a pod containing a lifeform (the Counter-Earth replicated form of Cynthia von Doom), Hellscout considered that the stranger's machinations may not end with his death, and he and Gornkai pursued the pod to be certain the intruder could not threaten the colony.

(Doom: The Emperor Returns#3 (fb) - BTS) - Considering the being in the pod to be a soul in need, Hellscout and Gornkai brought it back to Pilgrims Rock.pilgrims_rock-negzone-doomer3

(Doom: The Emperor Returns#3) - Examining the pod, Brother Tyndale (a non-human resident of Pilgrims Rock apparently) asked if Hellscout would bring evil to their very doorstep, and he continued that a spell or incantation held the woman in her unliving state. Jacob subsequently appeared, and while he agreed with Hellscout's sensing no evil in the woman, he further noted that there was no good, either, as she had no soul. 

    Further discussion was interrupted by the arrival of Doom, who easily overpowered local assaults. Following further threats, Hellscout assaulted Doom. Shattering Hellscout's sword, Doom then blasted both him and Gornkai away; however, after Doom approached the pod and noted that his mother was still safe, Hellscout instructed Gornkai to stand down until they knew what was going on.

    When Doom told them that his mother's current state was his fault and that he was just trying to return to his home with her until the space-going beast attacked, Hellscout compassionately asked Doom how they might help him find his way. After Doom stated that he had been exiled against his will and that he was trying to reunite his mother's body and spirit, Hellscout instructed Gornkai to prepare the ship for Doom. Unheard by Hellscout, when Jacob accused Doom of lying and having Satan in his soul, Doom grabbed Jacob's wrist (injecting him with a short-acting toxin), causing him to collapse, and then Doom told Hellscout that his father had collapsed after wishing him well. Eyeing Doom suspiciously, Hellscout had his father taken to their house to rest.

pilgrims_rock-doomer3-port    As Doom's mother was loaded into the ship, the Counter-Earth Franklin Richards archetype confronted Doom, who blasted it. Having seen this, Hellscout questioned his killing a child, but Doom assured him this was a shape-shifting demon. "Franklin" then warned Hellscout that Doom would kill him, too, and that he just wanted to steal their ship. Noting that his people needed their ship, Hellscout instructed Gornkai to fly it away, at which point Doom blasted Gornkai in the back. Hellscout fired futilely on Doom until "Franklin" shut off Doom's force field, allowing Hellscout's next blast to knock him back. Doom's subsequently fired mini-projectiles stunned Hellscout sufficiently for Doom to board the ship and take off.

    Hellscout and Gornkai were frustrated as they arrived too late to stop Doom, but "Franklin" pursued Doom aboard the ship.

(Doom: The Emperor Returns#3 - BTS) - Franklin forced Doom to accept that this was not his real mother but just a program, and he/it seemingly cast Doom into the void, but Doom eventually arrived through the Negative Zone portal into the Baxter Building replica created by Noah Baxter (or wherever the Fantastic Four were based out of, as it wasn't shown).

Comments: Created by Carlos Pacheco, Jeph Loeb, Rafael Marin, and Jesus Marin.

    When first referenced in Fantastic Four I#41, their base was called "the Pilgrims Rock." Later in the same issue, it was called "Pilgrim's Rock."
    In Doom: The Emperor Returns#3, it was called "Pilgrim Rock."
    Singular possessive doesn't make much sense. I think either Pilgrims Rock (plural, non-possessive) or Pilgrims' Rock (plural possessive) make the most sense.

    In Doom: The Emperor Returns#3, Hellscout notes that a Hellscout had protected Pilgrims Rock and watched the gateway for six-hundred years. If the Puritans arrived there in the 17th century, that's the 1600s, meaning it won't be 600 years until the 2200s...but, perhaps time passes differently in the Negative Zone...OR, if their world circled a sun-like structure, each planetary revolution was significantly shorter, so that a year was a shorter time period. Or he meant 400, but just misspoke.

    The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z hardcover#8: Negative Zone entry identified the Puritans of Pilgrims Rock as the Pandorans, based on their ship being the Pandora.

    I would like to see Solomon Kane travel to Pilgrims Rock and/or meet Hellscout.

    Flintlock refers to any firearm that used a flint-striking mechanism, which is what they would have used back in the 17th century. They obviously just continued to use the term despite their evolution to blaster weapons.

    It's not clear on what food the Puritans of Pilgrims Rock survived. The rocky ground did not seem to support any vegetation, nor were there any fauna observed. Perhaps there were regions inside the buildings that supported plant-life/gardens, and/or they hunted creatures that flew to Pilgrims Rock...maybe they even captured and farmed such creatures, but there was no discussion of any of this...other than when Sue asked what they had to eat, at which point the scene cut away.

    There are additional images of Pilgrims Rock in the profiles on Jacob, Tyndale, and the Pandora. The latter notably shows the Puritans aboard the Pandora being transported to the Negative Zone.

    This profile could be split into two...giving the Pandorans/Puritans of Pilgrims Rock their own profile, but I'm going to move on for now, leaving this profile to cover both. If someone wants to split them, feel free!

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Pilgrims Rock has no known connections to:

The Pandorans have no known connection to:
skeletons

pilgrims_rock-ff3-41-skeletons









When the Puritans arrived in the Negative Zone on the landmass that would become known as Pilgrims Rock, they found a number of skeletons, presumably the beings that built the technology present on that world.

Something (a plague, perhaps) or someone (Annihilus, perhaps) slew these beings, leaving behind on skeletons.

Not much could be said about these beings other that they seemed to be bilaterally symmetric bipeds, with four ribs on each side, tusk-like maxillary structures, and perhaps horns on the side of their heads.

--Fantastic Four III#41

images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four III#41, pg. 6, panel 5 (funeral);
            panel 7 (alarm sounding);
        pg. 7, panel 2 (armed; close; front);
            panel 3 (firing; behind);
        pg. 9, panel 4 (group, distant, cease fire);
        pg. 14, panel 3 (settlement; main);
        pg. 15, panel 1 (settlement; interior);
        pg. 16,  panel 1 (settling; skeletons);
            panel 2 (settling; skyline);
        pg. 18, panel 1 (kids with Thing);
        pg. 19, panel 2 (observing energy from generators on other planet)
Doom: The Emperor Returns#3, pg. 7, panel 1 (mountainside);
        pg. 19, panel 1 (port)

Appearances:
Fantastic Four III#40-41 (April-May, 2001) - Carlos Pacheco (artist, co-plotter), Jeph Loeb (script), Rafael Marin (co-plotter), Jesus Merino (inker), Andrew Lis (assistant editor), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Doom: The Emperor Returns#3 (March, 2002) - Chuck Dixon (writer), Leonardo Manco (artist), Klaus Janson & John Stanisci (inkers), Andrew Lis, Jeff Youngquist, & Mark Sumerak (assistant editors), Bobbie Chase & Tom Brevoort (editors)
Marvel Encyclopedia Vol. 6: Fantastic Four (2004) - Jeff Christiansen (head writer), Ronald Byrd, Michael Hoskin, & Mark O'English (writers/researchers), Mark D. Beazley (assistant managing editor), Jennifer Grunwald (assistant editor), Jeff Youngquist (editor)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z hardcover#8: Negative Zone

First posted: 04/17/2022
Last updated: 04/17/2022

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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