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Earth-555

From Marvel Database

Reality TemplateReality Template
New Universal

Earth-555
Official Name
First appearance

Contents

History

Overview

The reality of the New Universal comics series, which is a re-imagining of the reality presented in the New Universe imprint of books. For a more complete listing of articles related to Earth-555, see Category:Earth-555.


History

Earth-555 has some variations from the Earth we know: The United States has become something of an isolationist nation; the Soviet Union has survived into the twenty-first century, and is beginning its sixteenth five-year-plan under Premiere Yuri Mikhailovich Luzhkov; the China dominates spatial colonization, having established several space stations (such as Harmony), moon bases, and spaceplanes (such as the Great Enterprise).

The existence of super-humans is not unheard of, but it is also not publically known. In the United States, superhumans are monitored by "troubleshooters", and intelligence on their activities are collected in "black files". Philip L. Voight, presiding officer of the H.E.X. (Human Enhancement eXperimental) initiative explains: "One live superhuman, and we commence surveillance and defense preparations. Two superhumans, and we put troubleshooters into the field. Three superhumans, and the mathematical model says there's an intolerable probability that they will meet. And so we have to kill them." Voight himself killed the last known superhuman in its crib in 1959. Unknown to most humans, the Earth is also being monitored by an unknown, unseen alien race, who had attempted to make contact with previous superhumans, but failed -- possibly to the detriment of all of mankind.

At 06.49 UTC, March 2, 2006, the world is swept up in the White Event, a bright white light that sweeps across the sky. In the wake of the white event, a dreaming Izanami Randall found herself in the Superflow, the cosmic plane of consciousness accessed by all dreamers, from which all novelty and creativity flows, and the weather of which is responsible for the zeitgeist. There Izanami is addressed by a vast, alien construct who tells her, "THIS IS A PARADIGM SHIFT. EVERYTHING YOU KNOW HAS CHANGED. PLEASE REMAIN CALM."

The experience of the new Nightmask would end up being one of the tamer ones that evening. On the northern coast of Latvia, a landslip revealed an ancient tomb unseen for centuries, and originally believed in by only a few lone "crackpot archaeologist", like Dr. Leonard Carson. The ruins are somehow related to the Star Brand, which came to be wielded by Ken Connel while he slept in a field with his girlfriend, half a world away in Optima Down, Oklahoma. Unfortunately, the power of the Star Brand incinerates his girlfriend, and Ken was arrested for her murder a few minutes after he awakened.

In New York City, detective John Tensen had just undergone a lifesaving surgery after being shot in the head. Tensen awakened, transformed by the event, shortly before his nurse made him the latest victim of a series of "mercy killings." Bearing a lightning-bolt shaped scar across his chest, he found himself able see the sins of those around him. He slew his nurse and became a fugitive from the law, seeking his own brand of "Justice".

A short 16 hours later, Jennifer Swann, head developers of the H.E.X. Spitfire project -- a long-running, low-funded effort to create a robotic, combat exo-suit -- found that her budget had been increased by a factor of 20, and the project that her father had started decades ago had been upgraded to status: Urgently Active. It was then that Voight showed her images of Ken Connel breaking out of prison (incinerating all police to point a gun at him), and explained the true nature of the H.E.X. initiative.


Notes

  • No special notes.


Trivia

  • The events of September 11, 2001 never occurred on Earth-555, and the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center remain standing in New York City
  • The Beatles' John Lennon survives on Earth-555, and was born on either March 1 or 2, 1940 (and not October 9, 1940 as in real life). Paul McCartney, on the other hand, was shot to death in Liverpool on that same day in 1987.
  • On Earth-555, Oklahoma is apparently adjacent to a large body of water.


See Also


Links and References

  • None.
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