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Immortus: the Long Term Plot Headache

Note: This article significantly predates the conclusion of Avengers Forever

Readers be warned: this is a LONG tirade.

There is NO character in the Marvel Universe with such a badly screwed-up timeline as Immortus (no, not even Bishop or Cable). Because he has been written in so many different ways by so many different writer it is hard for anybody to now credibly define him, his goals, or his motives. I wish Kurt Busiek luck in Avengers Forever.

What do we know about Immortus then? He is the last incarnation so far seen of the man who was Rama-Tut, Kang, and the Crimson Centurion. Whilst there have been many divergent versions of all these others, so far as we know there is but one Immortus; a figure at once far more powerful yet far more ambiguous than all the rest. No longer a warrior conqueror but a scholar, no longer the time-traveller but the master of the realm beyond time, Immortus' actions are often glimpsed but rarely satisfactorily explained.

Immortus' actions: · tried to break up the Avengers (#10)

· prevented his former self Kang from gaining the Celestial Madonna (Giant Size Avengers #3)

· explained the Vision's origin (#133-135; now known to be false since Avengers West Coast #50)

· presided at the weddings of Vision and the Scarlet Witch and Mantis and the Cotati (Giant Size Avengers #4)

· "died" when the Avengers killed Kang (#143)

· may have had a son, Marcus, who impregnated Ms Marvel to have give birth to himself (#200)

· removed Mjolnir's time-travelling capabilities (Thor #282)

· conspired with Ravonna over the deaths of the divergent Kangs (#269)

· manipulated the destruction of the Vision (AWC#43)

· manipulated the Scarlet Witch's possession as a Bride of Set (1989 Annuals, especially AWC Annual #4)

· manipulated the possession of the Scarlet Witch by mutant bacteria from the dawn of time (AWC #48-49)

· manipulated the negation of (and by implication the creation of) Wanda and the Vision's children (AWC #52)

· wiped out quite a few timelines around this period of his career, apparently pruning the tree of time (all in AWC)

· attempted to enslave the Scarlet Witch as his tool for ruling the timelines and got his license revoked by the Timekeepers, freezing him permanently in place forever - yeah! (AWC#61-62)

· died again along with "his" version of Ravonna (implied to be the one from Avengers #269) and sent Terminatrix after Kang and Alioth; oh, his son Marcus was in this one as well! (Avengers: Terminatrix Objective #3)

· attempted to destroy Rick Jones (Avengers Forever #1)

Immortus' stated rationale for much of this was explained in AWC #61, written by Roy and Dann Thomas. It's probably worth quoting Immortus from that issue at length: "My PLANS, Agatha Harkness, were laid long before I, or any KANG, first faced the ORIGINAL AVENGERS... even before I sent my minion, the SPACE PHANTOM, to test their strength. If I had succeeded in BREAKING UP the group then... the SCARLET WITCH could never have joined them. How much EASIER it would have been then to MANIPULATE her, over the years! [...] You see, I have no purpose in life BUT my plan! To that end I showed the VISION a complex visual LIE wherein his synthezoid body was created from that of the original HUMAN TORCH. Once he was satisfied - wrongly - that he finally knew the secret of his android ORIGINS... he felt free to ask a beautiful MUTANT to become... his BRIDE. Ironically, the wedding of the SWORDSMAN'S GHOST with the CELESTIAL MADONNA was the LEAST IMPORTANT of the two marriages I performed, that fateful day. Having married, Wanda wanted CHILDREN... wanted them so badly that her HEX POWER caused her to actually BEAR them! I always knew, of course, that one day they would CEASE TO EXIST... with devastating effect upon the 'doting mother' [...] and the resulting TRAUMA would make her, at last, my powerful and indispensable PUPPET! What HIGHER purpose could she possibly have served?"

In fact the suggestion made is that Immortus arranged for the formation of the Avengers simply to manipulate them and the Scarlet Witch towards his unseen masterplan.

OK, this ALMOST makes sense up to this point (although I don't like it - it vitiates the free will of the team and the nobility of its purpose), even if subsequent appearances by Immortus and Kang have cast huge doubts over it all. But there remain a few unanswered questions:

1. Why does Immortus have to lie to the Vision about his origins to get him to propose to Wanda? Why not just show him the truth instead? It would presumably have the same effect of giving the synthezoid the confidence to pop the question.

2. The Vision learned his origin in Avengers #133-135 not only with the help of Immortus, but also the Cotati. If Immortus was lying, does that mean they were too? Recent Mantis appearances have suggested that the Cotati might not be as nice as they at first appeared. Where do they and the child of the Celestial madonna that they went to such lengths to breed fit in?

3. The original Human Torch was built with components from Timely Industries, which we now know to be a cover for Kang's Chronopolis operation - Victor Timely WAS Kang. The Vision was apparently built by Ultron from spare parts left over from the Torch. Why was it so important that the Scarlet Witch meet and fall in love with a synthezoid?

4. If it WAS that important, was that why Wonder Man was got out of the way? Without Simon Williams' brain patterns, the Vision would be a very different person.

5. What the hell was Marcus Immortus all about? Why does he have different parents (Immortus and Ravonna) in the Terminatrix Objective?

6. Is Immortus appointed by the Timekeepers to look after a segment of history? Or was he but he isn't now? Who are these timekeepers anyway? (Yes, I know they appeared in an old Thor comic, but where do they fit in to Marvel cosmology?)

7. Is Immortus' history now so hopelessly clogged that it is unsalvageable? I hope not, because he has the potential to become a really interesting adversary.

In conclusion:

· Avengers Forever is probably the last, best hope for saving Immortus (or, for that matter, Kang) as a usable Avengers adversary.

· The Vision needs a definitive origin, and fast.

· The Cotati go on my list of apparently nice characters that I just don't trust.

· Marvel should permanently ban all alternate timeline Kangs and Immortuses (Immortai?), they do far more harm than good to the character concept.