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Quote1 He calls himself the Master of Time! "Gardener of Time" is more truthful! He prunes away the chronal branches deemed by others to be dangerous, reducing reality to a bloodless meadow! But that's not the way of warriors -- of men! I say, let it be a forest! Let it be a jungle! Quote2
Kang the Conqueror[src]

This article covers Nathaniel Richards' incarnation as Immortus. For other incarnations of Richards, see Iron Lad, Kid Immortus, Rama-Tut, the Scarlet Centurion, Kang the Conqueror, and Mister Gryphon.

History

Origins[]

Nathaniel Richards was born in the 30th century of Earth-6311, a reality where humanity never went into the Dark Ages. After centuries of advancement and warfare, peace was brought to the land by a time-traveler from Earth-616 named Nathaniel Richards. Because Richards brought peace to this war-torn future, he became known as the legendary benefactor.[5] The Nathaniel Richards born to this reality is said to be an ancestor of the Benefactor, although other records also indicate that he may also be an ancestor of the Latverian monarch known as Doctor Doom.[1] As an adult, Nathaniel discovered a time machine and having grown bored of his peaceful time, traveled back in time to ancient Egypt on Earth-616. There he set himself up as a Pharaoh Rama-Tut until he was ousted from this position by the Fantastic Four.[6] Rama-Tut tried to flee back to his own era, but he was caught in a time storm and was forced to appear in the modern era of Earth-616. A chance encounter with his possible ancestor Dr. Doom,[7] inspired Nathaniel to abandon his Rama-Tut guise and assume one similar to Doom. In his first attempt, Nathaniel created the identity of the Scarlet Centurion, but abandoned this identity after being defeated by the Avengers.[8][9][10] He later took on the guise of Kang the Conqueror for many decades.[11]

After achieving many conquests over various galaxies and time periods, he had become less and less involved in the battles that expanded his empire and, by his 60th year, he had begun to view himself as nothing more than an administrator. Deciding to return to a more simpler time, Kang turned his vast empire over to his lover Ravonna and returned to ancient Egypt, resuming his guise of Rama-Tut.[12] He eventually returned to the modern era and attempted to stop his past self from tampering with the Celestial Madonna, meeting his future self as Immortus in the process and assisting the Avengers in stopping Kang.[13] Future struggles between Kang and Immortus would eventually have an impact on the destiny of Rama-Tut as well as during the so-called Destiny War at the end of time between the Avengers and the Time-Keepers. During this battle they attempted to speed up Kang's destiny to become Immortus in order to eliminate him from the battle.[14] However instead they merely diverged their destinies so that both men now existed autonomously from each other.[15] The branching point of this divergence occurred during Rama-Tut's travels through the time stream. Growing old, Rama-Tut began seeking a way to achieve immortality and began studying the realm of Limbo and learned that it was a timeless place where he could live forever and decided to retire there to learn mastery of time. Breaching the barrier into Limbo, Rama-Tut later reinvented himself as Immortus and began following this destiny.[16] However, the barrier between the time stream and Limbo is not only a point where every moment in time can be seen, but it is also a place where divergences can occur. This is the case with Rama-Tut. While one version of Rama-Tut went on to Limbo to become Immortus, yet another looked into the time stream and saw Immortus' eventual servitude to the Time-Keepers. Furious at the prospect of becoming a slave, Rama-Tut found a new fire for conquest and returned to his empire in the 40th century, and resumed his Kang identity.[12]

Mastery of Limbo[]

Nathaniel Richards (Immortus) (Earth-6311) and Time-Keepers (Earth-794282) from Avengers Forever Vol 1 8 001

Immortus meets the Time-Keepers[17]

When in Limbo, Nathaniel discarded his Rama-Tut guise and took on that of Immortus. He soon constructed a fortress and began to study time and tried to master the realm of Limbo, and observing alternate realities and timelines.[16] He was greeted by the so-called Time-Keepers who had selected him to be tutored on their secrets of time and as their apprentice he was given seven millennia to watch over from 3000 BC to 4000 AD. His primary objective was to untangle the temporal disturbances caused by his own self. He was also to shepherd the course of history so that it ended with the Time-Keepers at the end of time. They had also gave him technology that would prevent him from turning into a Phantom, beings who were trapped and transformed by Limbo itself. These Space Phantoms became servants of Immortus himself, who did his bidding whenever direct intervention or misdirection was required in the time stream. Immortus also became a singular being in the time stream, and as such, there are no divergent versions of Immortus that exist, unlike his past incarnations.[17] Another servant of Immortus was the being known as Tempus, although accounts differ as to how Tempus came to be. One account states that Tempus was created by Immortus directly,[16] while another states that Tempus was created by the future version of Immortus and sent back in time to aid his past self.[18]

Immortus also wanted to ensure that his past self followed his proper course of destiny to ensure that at the end of all time it would be Immortus, and not any of his past counterparts that would have mastery of time. His first step in doing so was to create the time storm that prevented his past self, as Rama-Tut, from reaching his native 30th Century which would ensure his meeting with Dr. Doom, and later disturbances that caused Rama-Tut to end up in the 40th century.[19] While the Time-Keepers usually demanded swift elimination of any threats to the timeline, Immortus avoided violence or killing whenever possible and instead chose manipulation and trickery whenever possible to manipulate events in a more desirable direction. The first situation wherein the Time-Keepers' wishes were not followed was when it was determined that the Scarlet Witch was considered a nexus being in at least one reality, her children would become a threat to the timeline. While the Time-Keepers asked Immortus to kill her outright, he decided more subtler means were required.[17] Immortus had stated in one account that he intended to manipulate events in order to take control of the Scarlet Witch and use her probability altering hex powers to manipulate all time that was under his custodianship. To this end he initially attempted to break up the Avengers before she joined the group to this end.[20]

Early Manipulations[]

Immortus appears before the Masters of Evil in Avengers Vol 1 10

Immortus appears before the Masters of Evil[21]

Whatever the motivation was, Immortus sent his agent the Space Phantom to Earth shortly after the formation of the Avengers to try and split the team up, by using his powers to take the shape each of the Avengers, shunting the real hero temporarily to Limbo in order to sow dissent among their ranks. Posing as a supposed alien invader, the Space Phantom nearly succeeded until he attempted to take the shape of the Asgardian thunder god Thor. Thor's body proved to be immune to the Space Phantom's powers, and the Space Phantom was shunted to Limbo instead. Although the Space Phantom failed to break up the team, it caused the Hulk to quit the team.[22] Immortus soon began monitoring the early exploits of the Avengers, including their battles with the Masters of Evil and his past self, Kang the Conqueror.[23] Immortus eventually decided that the best way to shepherd the Avengers was to get personally involved.[16][17] To this end, Immortus mentally contacted the Masters of Evil through their member the Enchantress and offered his "allegiance" to them, agreeing to their leader Baron Zemo's orders to destroy the Avengers. Immortus did so by kidnapping both Rick Jones and Captain America and imprisoning them in England circa 1709 AD. He then had Space Phantoms disguised as beings from other eras such as Merlin, the biblical Goliath, and Hercules. But the Avengers managed to defeat Immortus' minions and Immortus was forced to return the heroes to their proper era. When the Masters of Evil joined the battle, they were easily trounced by the Avengers and in order to avoid defeat, the Enchantress cast a spell that brought them back in time so they could cut off contact with Immortus, thereby preventing the entire conflict from ever happening.[24]

Immortus continued his observations of the Avengers, but when he witnessed their first reorganization, he vowed to crush them.[25] However, when the Time-Keepers actually ordered their elimination, Immortus chose to continue shepherding them.[17] He also observed the meeting between Rama-Tut and Dr. Doom.[26] Immortus eventually found a means of preventing the Scarlet Witch from having children after noticing a romance forming between her and the Avengers' newest addition, the android Vision, believing that a romance between the two would prevent her from having children.[27] Immortus was keenly interested in the Kree-Skrull War which ended when Rick Jones unleashed the Destiny Force within him to halt the two warring alien races. Initially seeing this as a possible danger to the timeline, when Jones proved incapable of tapping it anymore Immortus considered the threat over. However the Time-Keepers knew otherwise, showing Immortus three different futures: Earth-9970, 9971, and 9812 where the Avengers were responsible for the human race taking over the entire universe, particularly on Earth-9812 where, thanks to the Destiny Force, the future Avengers Galactic Battalion would reign supreme. The Time-Keepers then ordered Immortus to stop the Avengers, or they would obliterate not only the team itself, but the entire Earth as well.[28] Seeing that the Vision was reluctant in pursing his romance with the Scarlet Witch, Immortus sent the Space Phantom to Earth once again and had him team-up with the Grim Reaper to offer the Vision a human body, by placing his mind into that of Captain America. The Vision refused, giving him the confidence to continue his romance even though he was an android, as Immortus intended.[29] Immortus then began courting alien races such as the so-called Martian Masters and the Badoon providing them with information that led to invasions of Earth in various futures shattering the ability for the human race to leave the planet due to catastrophic wars.[30] Immortus then began working on reining in his past counterparts who were running amok through time.[16]

Celestial Madonna[]

At this time in the modern age, Kang was attempting to claim the so-called Celestial Madonna for himself so he could sire her son, who was foretold to be the most powerful being in the universe. When the Madonna was identified as being among the Avengers, Kang attacked them. He was later opposed by his future self Rama-Tut and it was revealed that the Avenger known as Mantis was the Madonna. Opposed from claiming her, Kang attempted to kill her but instead slew her lover, the Swordsman. Both Kang and Rama-Tut struggled and knocked each other into Kang's time machine and found themselves trapped in the time stream.[31] Posing as a potential ally, Immortus plucked both Kang and Rama-Tut out of the time stream and brought them to Limbo. Imprisoning Rama-Tut, Immortus then allowed Kang to use his time travel devices. Kang used it to summon a number of super-humans from various times just moments before their deaths including, Frankenstein's Monster, Wonder Man, the original Human Torch, Midnight, the Ghost, and Baron Zemo. Dubbing them the Legion of the Unliving, Kang then plotted to use them against the Avengers. When Immortus balked at this, Kang seemingly imprisoned him along with Rama-Tut, then used a device to transport the Avengers to Limbo.[32]

Immortus presents the Avengers a synchro-staff in Avengers Vol 1 133

Immortus presents the Avengers with a synchro-staff[33]

While Immortus appeared to apparently be helpless, this was all part of a long running plan to manipulate the Vision and the Scarlet Witch.[17] This all played out during the battle between the Avengers and the Legion of the Unliving, as it was soon learned that the Vision and the original Human Torch were both the same being. Ultimately the Avengers defeated their foes and Kang fled into the time stream once again. When Immortus was freed, he used his mastery over Limbo to restore those who were injured or killed in the battle. He then returned the Legion of the Unliving to their proper fates. He then revealed to the Avengers and Rama-Tut that he was the future incarnation of Kang before Rama-Tut left to meet his own destiny.[13]

Nathaniel Richards (Immortus) (Earth-6311) and Avengers (Earth-616) from Giant-Size Avengers Vol 1 4 001

Immortus officiates over the weddings of Mantis and the Cotati and the Vision and the Scarlet Witch[34]

In "thanks" Immortus offered to show both the Vision and Mantis the secrets regarding their pasts, such as both the Vision's connection to the Human Torch and how Mantis became selected as the Celestial Madonna. He gave them synchro-staffs that allowed them to travel through time and space to learn these secrets.[35] However this was yet another deception of sorts on the part of Immortus as the synchro-staffs were really Space Phantoms in disguise, and at least in the case of the Vision he was shown only selective images of the past that confirmed his connection to the original Human Torch of the 1940s.[36] When Mantis was later to be joined with her chosen mate, a member of the Cotati race that took on the form of the deceased Swordsman, Immortus offered his assistance in stopping Kang from attempting to capture her once again. He hid the real Mantis by having one of his Space Phantoms pose as her, and when Kang believed he had won, the Space Phantom revealed his true self. While Kang was away, Immortus officiated a wedding between Mantis and the Cotati as well as the Vision and the Scarlet Witch who, thanks to his manipulations, were now completely in love. Mantis and the Cotati then left to find their destiny in the stars, and Immortus departed as an apparent ally of the Avengers.[34]

Deceptions[]

Now seen as an ally of the Avengers, Immortus answered the call of Thor and Moondragon in helping locate their missing teammate Hawkeye who was lost in the past. Agreeing to help, Immortus transported them into the time stream where they battled Kang, but he managed to flee them. The trio then followed Kang to the state of Arizona circa 1873.[37] There they had found that Kang was attempting to conquer the modern age by taking over the 19th century first and that American cowboys the Two-Gun Kid, Kid Colt, the Ringo Kid, and the Night Rider were working with Hawkeye to liberate the town of Tombstone from Kang's control. However Immortus returned to his own time after assisting them in thwarting a train robbery.[38] Soon Immortus grew bored with his time in Limbo and sought out a mate. Scanning all of time he found a woman who was destined to drown in a shipwreck and saved her life. Taking her back to Limbo they sired a child he named Marcus whom he raised in a sphere of time until adulthood. However, without the same sort of protective technology, the woman Immortus took as his mate was eventually shunted back to her own era to finally meet her death.[39] Meanwhile in 1873, the Avengers and their allies managed to defeat Kang who was seemingly slain while battling Thor due to the thunder god overloading his force field and disintegrating his body. Appearing before the Avengers, Immortus led them to believe that with Kang seemingly dead his existence was nullified as well with the threat over. However both Kang and Immortus would resurface alive and well later on.[40] Immortus hid himself from all others, including his own son who later attempted to leave Limbo in a complex plot that involved romancing and rebirthing himself on Earth-616 through the Avenger known as Ms. Marvel,[39] which ended in the death of Marcus when he returned to Limbo and grew old and died.[41]

Nathaniel Richards (Immortus) (Earth-6311), Thor Odinson (Earth-616), and Space Phantom (Temporal Limbo) from Thor Vol 1 282 001

Immortus with Mjolnir[16]

When Immortus did return to Limbo, he came to believe that the time travelling capabilities of Thor's hammer Mjolnir would have a negative impact on his plans for the Avengers and crafted a complex plot to trick Thor into relinquishing this power from the hammer. To this end, he employed his Space Phantoms to make it appear that their fictional homeworld of "Phantus" was at risk of being trapped in Limbo and sent the original Phantom to recruit Thor to "rescue" them.[17] This was accomplished by stopping Thor from traveling into the past to learn the origins of the Celestials and bring him to Limbo and briefly absconding with Thor's hammer.[42] The Space Phantom then led Thor to the fortress of Immortus, who revealed the deception of his "demise" earlier and then revealed to him a selective recounting of his history. Immortus then convinced Thor that the only way he could save "Phantus" was to use the chronal energies in his hammer, but explained that it would deplete them of such energies. Having pledged to save "Phantus" by any means possible, Thor gave up on his quest to travel through time and drained the hammer of its time travelling capabilities. With the ruse completed Immortus transported Thor back to his home era.[16] Shortly after this Immortus became aware that access to Reality-82432 had been blocked by that era's version of Korvac.[43]

Immortus then continued to monitor the Vision and the Scarlet Witch and began preparing to make her his pawn. He saw that the pair would eventually use magic in order to impregnate the Scarlet Witch with children with both of their essences.[44] She eventually gave birth to two boys Billy and Thomas.[45] The birth of these offspring seemed to herald the powerful nexus beings that the Time-Keepers warned of. In order to prevent this, Immortus influenced the Vision months before the Scarlet Witch's impregnation and had him take over the world's computers, knowing that the government would eventually react to this.[46] After witnessing the birth of Billy and Thomas, Immortus also learned that the magics used to give them life used soul fragments of the demon Mephisto who had his own agent, Master Pandemonium seeking to reclaim those shards and that the boys would eventually cease to exist, making the Scarlet Witch ripe for manipulation due to her fragile mental state.[47] With the threat of Billy and Thomas Maximoff and the future subjugation of the Scarlet Witch underway, Immortus moved on to focus on other things.

Immortus soon came to see that his past self, Kang, had created many divergent versions of himself with every time jump that he made. Immortus then decided to become devoted to ensuring that no matter what, Kang would eventually become himself. When a version of Kang was trapped in a infinity vortex by Thor in the past, Immortus secretly transported him to Limbo and left a phony dead body for him to find. As expected, Immortus used the technology found in the citadel to learn of his alternate counterparts all of whom he deemed to be failures. Kang also used his device to save his lost love Ravonna from an assassin's bullet bringing her to Limbo. Immortus only revealed himself to Ravonna and won her loyalty due to his more peaceful nature and had her monitor events on his behalf.[48] Kang then gathered two of his counterparts, forming the Council of Kangs and began eliminating all other counterparts who they deemed as inferior. The "Prime" Kang also plotted to eliminate his last two counterparts by pitting them against the Avengers, whom Kang brought to Limbo as well.[49] When the last two Kangs were slain and the Avengers broke free, Immortus finally revealed himself and his manipulations to both Kang and the Avengers. He then produced a Psyche-Globe which had all the retained memories of the slain Kangs, pretending that this was his motivation all along. However, as expected, Kang tried to take the globe and in doing so his mind was flooded with all the memories at once driving him mad and he fled into Limbo. When the Avengers disapproved of this, Immortus simply returned them to their own time before another fight could break out.[50]

Immortus then began to resume his work on manipulating the Scarlet Witch and the Vision. As he predicted an organization consisting of world intelligence officials calling themselves Vigilance sought to capture the Vision and erase any government secrets he learned when he briefly took over every computer on Earth.[51] With the aid of Avenger and S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Mockingbird they captured the Vision and took him to their facility.[52] Seeking to further sow confusion between the Avengers West Coast branch, Immortus had one of his Space Phantoms pose as Phineas Horton, the creator of the original Human Torch.[53] When Vigilance sought "Horton's" aid the Space Phantom claimed that the Vision was not his "work".[54] Sure enough the Avengers recovered the Vision they were shocked by this revelation but repaired the Vision anyway but he was now devoid of his emotions for the Scarlet Witch.[55] The Scarlet Witch's sanity suffered further impacts following an encounter with That Which Endures.[56] Immortus continued to monitor events as the Space Phantom posing as Phineas Horton continued to provide further misinformation to the Avengers.[57] After a visit from Ann Raymond the late wife of the Human Torch's former partner Toro, the Avengers located the body of the Human Torch and the Scarlet Witch used her hex powers to reactivate him. Watching this Immortus used his devices to cloud the Avengers minds to allow them to continue to believe the ruse.[58] Later as Immortus had seen, Master Pandemonium went after the souls of Thomas and Billy Maximoff, ultimately forcing the witch Agatha Harkness to sacrifice their lives to stop him and his master Mephisto.[59] Wanda's sanity was further affected when she was briefly brainwashed into a bride of Set during the Atlantis Attacks crisis.[60]

Acts of Vengeance[]

Nathaniel Richards (Immortus) (Earth-6311), Wanda Maximoff (Earth-616), and Avengers West Coast (Earth-616) from Avengers West Coast Vol 1 60 001

Immortus and the Scarlet Witch[61]

During the so-called Acts of Vengeance conspiracy, a number of super-villains organized a full out assault on the world's super-heroes in general and the Avengers in particular. Immortus allowed these events to unfold that continued to demoralize the Scarlet Witch and make her the perfect pawn. One of the conspirators was the Witch's father Magneto who sought to rein his daughter back in and form a new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. As the conspiracy unfolded, Immortus focused on his primary task: pruning realities that threatened the existence of his masters the Time-Keepers. These included Earth-78912 where Queen Elizabeth I and England was put on the the rule of Mary Queen of the Scotts.[62] Earth-9002 where Abraham Lincoln managed to thwart his assassination at the hands of John Wilkes Booth. However when he returned to Limbo after this second pruning he found that his tracking devices lost sight of the Scarlet Witch causing him to pause to observe.[63]

Scarlet Witch[]

It was at this point that the Scarlet Witch's sanity broke and she willingly sided with her father Magneto and organized an attack on her former teammates the West Coast Avengers.[64] Although the Avengers eventually freed themselves, Magneto fled to his headquarters Asteroid M with the Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver who had also seemingly betrayed his former allies in the Avengers.[65] Immortus then continued his pruning, culling Earth-90659 where Hydro-Man slew Wonder Man, Hawkeye, and Hank Pym.[66] Also erased was Earth-9007 where President John F. Kennedy was not assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald,[61] Earth-9008 where Napoleon conquered Russia, and Earth-908 where a man named Leonard Tippit caused World War III.[20] It was then that Immortus turned his eyes back to happenings in the modern era where a rematch between the Brotherhood and the West Coast Avengers was raging. As it turned out Quicksilver was only feigning betrayal and Magneto was eventually defeated. Immortus then took this moment to put Wanda in a hypnotic trance and finally reveal his machinations.[61]

Immortus then teleported himself and the Avengers to Limbo, unaware that the witch Agatha Harkness used a spell to keep a dimensional doppelganger in the present that she could question. In Limbo, Immortus revealed his plans for the Scarlet Witch and unleashed a new Legion of the Unliving consisting of Toro, the original Black Knight, the Grim Reaper, the Swordsman, the Iron Man of Earth-8410, Left-Winger, Right-Winger, and Oort the Living Comet.[67] After the Avengers defeated the Legion of the Unliving, Immortus unleashed Tempus upon them. While he was occupied with the battle Immortus was unaware that Agatha Harkness managed to penetrate Limbo in her astral form. She then coaxed the Scarlet Witch out of her hypnotic trance by showing her that the Avengers were in danger. This freed the Witch who renounced the added power she was given, and in doing so she created a number of alternate realities. Soon the Time-Keepers intervened and with some poetic justice, gave Immortus what he wanted: complete mastery of over time by infusing him with the rejected power of the Scarlet Witch. However this proved to immobilize Immortus, leaving him to the same fate he intended for the Scarlet Witch. With the defeat of Immortus the Avengers were returned to their proper time.[68]

Time-Twisters[]

Immortus as the Whisperer in What If..

Immortus as the Whisperer[69]

However, Immortus was not defeated, and the "Time-Keepers" who immobilized him were not what they seemed, and were in actuality disguised Time-Twisters alternate counterparts of the Time-Keepers who were seeking to ensure their own existence over their more benevolent counterparts. To this end they began targeting various Nexus beings that threatened their own existence in other realities. However Immortus, not entirely helpless himself attempted to gain his own mastery of time.[1] Unaware of the duplicity of the Time-Twisters, the Watcher of Earth-616 was invited by them to watch as they attempted to cement their existence. They first targeted Earth-772 and sought to prevent the birth of Franklin Richards. In this reality his birth was complicated by the cosmic rays in the body of his mother the Invisible Girl, complications that threatened to end both their lives. This prompted the remaining members of the Fantastic Five to travel into the Negative Zone to claim the Cosmic Control Rod of its ruler, Annihilus. While the Time-Twisters sought to thwart the team on their journey by tipping off their foe Dr. Doom and sending him into the Negative Zone to claim the Cosmic Control Rod for himself, Immortus - invisible to the Time-Twisters and posing as the Whisperer - contacted Doom through the astral plane and warned him that if the Richards child died it would drive his father Mr. Fantastic mad with grief triggering an atomic war. Doom instead helped the Fantastic Four and held off Annihilus long enough for them to escape. Before Doom could be slain by the Negative Zone barrier, he was plucked out of time by the Whisperer who sought pawns to use in his plans.[70]

The Time-Twisters next targeted the 22nd century of Earth-90110 to destroy the super-powerful Ultra-Vision that reality's Nexus being. To this end they transported Korvac from the a reality's 31st Century. Seeing this utopian future Korvac sought to take over this era and enthralled his long time foes the Guardians of the Galaxy to battle that eras heroes the Cosmic Avengers while he made a bid to take control of the Ultra-Vision's computer systems. The Whisperer intervened by providing Colonel John Fury, Jr. with a means of reversing Korvac's control over the heroes. Although they failed to stop Korvac from slaying the Ultra-Vision, they defeated their foe, leaving that reality with an uncertain future. The Whisperer then selected the Cosmic Avenger's Irondroid to join his cause.[69] The Time-Twisters next targeted Marvel Girl of Earth-9250 a world where Wolverine was king of the Vampires. During this reality's Inferno invasion, Wolverine and his X-Vampires clashed with the dread Dormammu and the Goblin Queen over dominion of the Earth. The Whisperer once more intervened convincing Marvel Girl that the only means of defeating Dormammu was to once more accept the power of the Phoenix Force to vanquish their foes. With the defeat of Dormammu, the Whisperer took Wolverine from this reality. Immortus' work soon began coming to fruition, his interventions caused one of the Time-Twisters to blink out of existence and the Time Variance Authority soon detected an approaching Timequake that would bring about the ascension of Immortus into a powerful time being.[71] The next target of the Time-Twisters was Odin of Earth-9260 who was a prisoner of that reality's Seth and Loki. Another of the Twisters ceased to exist as Immortus sent his pawns to free Thor and rescue Odin. Despite direct interference from one of the Time-Twisters, the minions of Immortus succeeded and he was erased from existence himself. Having amassed enough Nexus energy, Immortus revealed his true self to Thor, Wolverine, Dr. Doom and the Irondroid before transforming into a massive quantum wave that threatened to restructure all existence.[69]

Immortus as a Quantum Wave in What If..

Immortus as the Quantum Wave[1]

In his quantum wave form, Immortus was able to prevent any changes to the multiverse as his influence began to spread. With their own existence in jeopardy the Time Variance Authority agreed to meet with the Watcher to find a solution to the problem. First they sent the former pawns of Immortus to Limbo to try and stop him there but found that Immortus could reset events there to ensure his own victory. The Watcher then suggested they use a means to prevent Immortus from being able to collect the Nexus energy he needed to become this powerful. This prompted the TVA to send agents into Immortus' past just as he first discovered his ancestors time machine and inject him with the Saturnyne Symbiont. First they sent the Fantastic Four of Earth-7712 however their super-powered forms made the young Nathaniel Richards suspicious and he used his ancestors weapons to slay them. The Watcher then suggested they use Reed Richards' Rocket Group of Earth-8212 their non-powered nature convinced Nathaniel to allow himself to be injected with the Symbiont. This resulted in Immortus' seeming destruction reversing the deaths of all those who perished in the Timequake incident and restoring the Time-Keepers to existence while devolving the Time-Twisters into the eggs they were born from, ending their threat for the nonce.[1]

For a time Immortus was merely a dissipated quantum wave,[18] but the Time-Keepers believing that Immortus was acting in their best interest reformed him and reinstated his previous custodial duties.[72] Immortus returned to Limbo and was reunited with the Ravonna whom resided there with him. The pair observed as another Ravonna counterpart, the Terminatrix battled Kang and mortally wounded him, Immortus was unconcerned over this near death of his past self, as he knew that eventually his destiny would end on its proper course.[2]

Further Observations[]

Nathaniel Richards (Immortus) (Earth-6311) from X-Men the Animated Series Season 4 11 001

Immortus posing as Bender the Janitor of the Axis of Time

Limbo was soon invaded by Apocalypse from the year 3999 AD on Earth-13393 in order to secure his victory over its modern era on Earth-92131 where his past self was constantly thwarted by that reality's X-Men. To this end, he began kidnapping various telepaths from the modern era and secreting them away in the citadel of Immortus. Immortus himself remained undetected, and took the guise of Bender, an seemingly insane man who claimed to be the janitor in what he referred to as the "Axis of Time". He soon found the future X-Man Bishop from the year 2055 AD of Earth-31393 who was caught in the temporal disturbance caused by Apocalypse and ended up in Limbo himself. As Bender, Immortus then guided Bishop through his realm showing him glimpses of events occurring in the present on Earth-92131 that were part of Apocalypse's schemes. He provided Bishop with cryptic information which ultimately led to the X-Men and their allies defeating Apocalypse and freeing the captured telepaths. The fortress of Immortus was seemingly destroyed in the process, but after the heroes returned to their native reality, Immortus doffed his Bender disguise and rebuilt.[73]

Immortus then returned to his observations of Earth-616, and witnessed as the Avengers entered in the Shi'ar/Kree conflict known as Operation: Galactic Storm. This horrified Immortus as this direct action in galactic proportions could create the future the Time-Keepers were seeking to avoid and attempted to bend the course of events to suit his masters ends.[74][17] Later on in this conflict when Iron Man accessed a ship computer, Immortus took advantage of a flaw in the neural-web that Stark required to use at the time to access and manipulate his mind. Through this manipulation Immortus was able to ensure that a Nega-Bomb was detonated in Kree space minimizing the Avengers involvement in the war.[75][17] Immortus had implanted a suggestion into Iron Man's mind, thus making him prejudiced toward other alien races in the hopes that it make him dissuade the Avengers from getting involved in galactic conquests again. However this scheme backfired when Iron Man later convinced some of his fellow Avengers to execute the Kree Supreme Intelligence for his role in the detonation of the Nega-Bomb.[76][17] This misstep was also noticed by the Time-Keepers who came to warn Immortus that these most recent events would cause Shi'ar criminal Deathcry to seek the Avengers' aid in stopping atrocities committed by the Kree by the Shi'ar thus giving rise to more conflicts between the Avengers and galactic empires leading to the very future that the Keepers sought to avoid. Immortus asked for one last chance to prevent this future from happening by his own means. Viewing future events he foresaw the coming of the psychic entity known as Onslaught and began planning a scheme to keep the Avengers busy with another deception until that threat made itself apparent.[77]

The Crossing[]

Manipulating Iron Man[]

Immortus posing as Kang in Iron Man Vol 1 325

Immortus posing as Kang[78]

The first step in this scheme involved the manipulation of the Avenger known as Iron Man. Exploiting the neural-web connection to Iron Man's brain, Immortus manipulated Iron Man into doing his bidding.[17] When the west coast branch of the Avengers was shut down, Immortus manipulated Iron Man into forming a new group called Force Works. Stark then used his vast fortune to build a headquarters called the Works.[79][80] Unknown to his teammates at the time, Iron Man also constructed a secret room with chronography manipulation technology controlled by a computer named VIRGIL.[81] Stark was also manipulated in constructing the trigger to the weapon into a satellite he was constructing for Starcore.[82] Once this was completed, Immortus started slowly driving Iron Man mad, causing him to hallucinate and have blackouts in order to manipulate him into doing his bidding.[83] In addition to this, he observed that during their battle against the villain known as Proctor, the Avengers Headquarters was destroyed, but upon Proctor's death the Watcher known as Ute replaced their destroyed headquarters with a counterpart from another dimension.[84] Immortus used this transition to hide a secret door that housed a time machine that allowed his agents to traverse to the modern era.

The Deception[]

Immortus then set into motion his most complex manipulations to date by fabricating a very detailed hoax. Immortus chose to disguise himself as his past self, Kang, and utilized his Space Phantom army to pose as former Avengers allies, foes and apparent time travelers from the future. Using the same memory implants, the Space Phantoms were completely convinced of their roles in events and the fabricated pasts they were given in order to make the deception as believable as possible.[17] While posing as Kang, Immortus claimed that he was attempting to conquer all of time once again, but some "unseen foe" was looming and threatened to destroy his empire. As such "Kang" sought to take over the modern era and displace it into the time stream to hyper-evolve humans into loyal Anachronauts to use as an army of cannon fodder against his foe.[85] One of his Space Phantoms disguised itself as Kang's former prize, the woman known as Mantis. This Phantom was conditioned to believe that she held a grudge against the Cotati for stripping her of her title and powers of the Celestial Madonna and also against the Avengers for seemingly doing nothing. Per Immortus' deception "Mantis" was conditioned to believe that she finally decided to side with Kang and conquer all of time.[86]

Another deception borrowing from the Celestial Madonna affair were Space Phantoms that were disguised as the Priests of Pama who were "aware" of "Kang's" activities and sought to stop him. Another was based off of Mantis' father, the former criminal known as Libra, but in a new identity known as Moonraker. The "Libra" Phantom was programmed to believe that he was an agent working for the Priests of Pama to try and stop "Kang's" plot and was placed among Force Works under a false identity, and submerged memories. In order to full integrate Moonraker into his plans Immortus manipulated the minds of Force Works and their allies in order to make them believe that he had joined the group for months, and formed a false relationship with Force Works member Spider-Woman.[87] Other supposed "allies" for the Avengers included a Space Phantom posing as the Cotati that took on the form of the original Swordsman,[88] as well as two Space Phantoms claiming to be the future version of Luna, daughter of the Quicksilver and Crystal,[89] as well as another named Tuc who claimed to be a future version of an as yet unborn child between the two heroes.[90] Both were programmed to go "back in time" to try and prevent the fabricated event that Immortus was undertaking.

Additional pawns of Immortus included two Space Phantoms posing as two humanoids Tobias and Malachi.[91] These two Phantoms were programmed to believe that they were taken out of different time periods and raised by "Kang" and "Mantis". Other soldiers included Neut,[92] and the Eternal known as Gilgamesh,[89] and alien calling himself Dirge.[93] Immortus also succeeded in tricking members of Kang's Anachronauts to join his side: Deathunt 9000 and Apocryphus.[94] Lastly "Kang" incorporated Cybermancer of Earth-9528 who took the place of her Earth-616 counterpart.[95]

The Execution[]

First, Immortus sent his agent Tuc to the modern era where he met with members of the Avengers and read them tarot cards that warned them of the coming battle and gave them glimpses of the "future". Tuc then left the Avengers to believe they were all in a trance like state and that they all had a shared dream.[90] Soon after the former Avenger known as Yellowjacket was returning from the 31st century of Earth-691 to warn the Avengers of the coming attack, "Kang" ordered Iron Man to murder her. This murder was seen by Luna from her bedroom window at Avengers Mansion on the evening of an Avengers reunion. He then rapidly aged Gilgamesh and allowed him to escape captivity, sending his Anachronaut drones to stop him. This led to a clash with the Avengers that left Gilgamesh gravely wounded. The "future Luna" also was sent back to provide cryptic warnings to the Avenger Hercules. Later that night when Luna's nanny Marilla discovered Iron Man using the hidden room in the basement of Avengers Mansion and he was forced to kill her as well.[89] He later made the Temple of Agaphaur -- sacred temple of the Priests of Pama in Vietnam -- disappear. Immortus also continued to send hallucinations and blackouts to Iron Man, making him forget the actions he carried out on behalf of Immortus.[96] With Moonraker supplanted in the group, "Kang" had Iron Man recruit Cybermancer into Force Works as well.[97]

Immortus also had Tuc appear before the Swordsman with more cryptic warning. He also dispatched Neut to murder Gilgamesh at Avengers Mansion. The Avengers failed to stop him and this prompted Stark to order the Mansion evacuated. Through his manipulations Immortus also had Stark and his business Stark Industries ruin the financial holdings of his teammate the Wasp.[92] As Iron Man and Giant-Man attempted to examine the strange door in the basement, Stark was subject to more blackouts that led him to believe he might have killed Pym. But this turned out to be another manipulation and Pym was fine.[81] But this prompted Iron Man to close off Avengers Mansion from everyone. Immortus then stepped up his plot by sending the Space Phantom posing as the Cotati-Swordsman to come under attack by Tobias and Malachi. The Avengers tried but failed to stop them from "kidnapping" their "ally".[91] With Cybermancer among Force Works, Immortus manipulated Iron Man into doctoring evidence to frame Hawkeye for the murders at Avengers Mansion, then caused the entire country of Vietnam to disappear, making nearly everyone forget its existence except for Moonraker to lure one half of Force Works into a trap while the other half were occupied trying to capture Hawkeye.[98]

Hawkeye was captured however his friends US Agent and War Machine believed he was innocent and freed him from captivity at the Works, incapacitating Cybermancer in the process.[99] While they hid out in Calexico, Iron Man was further manipulated into believing that he murdered his ex-girlfriend Bethany Cabe. He then sent Neut to attack Stark. Following his defeat Iron Man sought the aid of his fellow Avengers only to find them upset over his apparent take over of the Wasp's financial assets.[100] While Force Works battled the Anachronauts in time-displaced Vietnam, Moonraker discovered the Temple of Agaphaur, triggering his "true" memories. While back at the Works, their associate Amanda Chaney uncovered Stark's secret room below the complex and its intended use.[101] More Anachronauts were dispatched to Calexico to slay Hawkeye and his allies as well, but this attempt was a failure.[102] Hawkeye then went after Iron Man, and after a brief battle they both agreed to go to the Avengers to try and learn the truth. While trying to mentally probe Iron Man to learn what he might have witnessed on the night of the murders, they revealed nothing until they noticed that Luna was acting upset around Stark. In probing her mind they learned the truth about Iron Man's murder spree.[103] In Limbo, "Kang" readied his troops for the final attack while on Earth Iron Man battled the Avengers. The latter battle ending with Stark escaping after seriously wounding the Wasp. Also during this battle Tuc was sent to take young Luna, under the pretense that he was protecting the past self of his "older sister".[85] Iron Man was plucked out of time by "Kang" and ordered to carry out the "plan" and returned him to the Works where he caught Amanda Chaney in his secret chambers and murdered her as well before setting his chronography device to activate within the next 24 hours. He and Cybermancer were then confronted by returning Force Works member Century and War Machine.[88] A battle raged until members of the Avengers and Force Works arrived. Iron Man then fled the scene, but not before ordering VIRGIL To defend his secret weapon.[104]

While the Avengers followed after Iron Man and battled him at his antarctic base, Immortus pulled Moonraker from the battle mid teleportation bringing him back to Limbo to be torture, another part of his complex hoax. Meanwhile, Iron Man's ex-girlfriend and prisoner Marianne Rodgers suggested to them to obtain a version of Tony that wasn't tainted by their foes.[105] Although unconfirmed, this was likely another manipulation on the part of Immortus. Meanwhile, Force Works managed to destroy the chronography hidden in their headquarters,[82] and War Machine destroyed the Starcore satellite carrying its trigger, battling Dirge.[93] Meanwhile in Limbo, Moonraker was "rescued" by the "future Luna" and brought to the Avengers in the present. "Kang" sent Neut to "stop" her and "future" Luna "sacrificed" herself to save the lives of her "parents". Neut was ultimately defeated and taken prisoner by the Avengers.[106] The Avengers then launched a full scale attack on Avengers Mansion clashing the Anachronauts and Tobias again in order to reach the secret door in the basement which they learned was a time machine. During the battle a number of Avengers were pulled into the past of Earth-96020 where they prevented Tobias from murdering that realities Tony Stark and convinced him to join them in going to the present and fighting his "future" self.[107] The combined forces of the Avengers, Force Works and "Teen Tony" went to attack Iron Man and it was during this conflict that "Kang" and his invasion forces finally appeared before their foes.[78] After Stark mortally wounded his "past self" he snapped out of his mental conditioning. While the Avengers battled against "Kang" and his forces, he traveled into Kang's citadel and freed the "Cotati" who helped revitalize the wounded heroes. Iron Man then sacrificed his life taking a energy blast, and died in battle. With his deception complete "Kang" retreated and Tuc returned his "sister" to Quicksilver and Crystal.[108] In addition, all of Immortus' allies -- Space Phantom or otherwise -- seemed to disappear. The Avengers lack of concern over the loose ends of this entire manipulation suggests that they were likely still being mentally manipulated by Immortus.

Aftermath[]

As per Immortus' plans, the Avengers were sufficiently distracted and were seemingly slain battling Onslaught. However they were instead transported to a pocket dimension later called Counter-Earth by Franklin Richards where they relived new lives.[109] After some time there the heroes were discovered and returned to their native reality, and Iron Man was incidentally restored back to a full adult with all of his past memories.[110] However Immortus would soon learn from the Time-Keepers that he still had not averted the disastrous future ahead, forcing Immortus to take more drastic action to rectify the problem.[17]

Destiny War[]

Nathaniel Richards (Immortus) (Earth-6311) and Time-Keepers (Earth-794282) from Avengers Forever Vol 1 11 001

Slain by the Time-Keepers[14]

The root of this dark future was soon discovered to be that of long time Avengers ally Rick Jones whose Destiny Force powers were beginning to resurface. Immortus decided to solve this problem by slaying Jones. At that time, Jones was left on the moon by the Avengers to be examined by the Supreme Intelligence. Immortus initially sent his agent Tempus to eliminate the boy, but he found opposition from the Intelligence, Libra and his own past self Kang, who was trying once again to thwart his destiny of becoming Immortus. Immortus responded in kind by sending a massive army of warriors from different eras to try and kill the boy. Jones himself managed to fight by by using his Destiny Force powers to summon a group of Avengers from various times, including Captain America, Yellowjacket, Goliath, the Wasp, Hawkeye, as well as Captain Marvel and Songbird, two Avengers from the future of Earth-98120.[111] Immortus was forced to retreat when the Avengers were able to fight off his army and Jones accessed the full power of the Destiny Force. Immortus then decided to attempt another angle to strike and attacked Kang's home realm of Chronopolis.[112] The Avengers were there as well, but they failed to stop Immortus from slaying the Terminatrix and the Anachronauts. Kang forced the heroes and Jones to flee into the time stream and abandoned his domain as well. This gave Immortus the chance to capture Heart of Forever and use it to convert all of Chronopolis into the Forever Crystal a powerful chronal device that would allow Immortus the ability to wipe out entire universes and prune the timeline according to the will of his masters.[113]

The first step Immortus took was to complete the final deception in his original plan to manipulate the Vision and the Scarlet Witch. He traveled back in time following the battle between the original Human Torch and his modern day counterpart. He then used the Forever Crystal to split the time stream, creating two versions of the Torch. One was taken by the robot Ultron to was transformed into the Vision and the other taken by the Mad Thinker who used the Torch's corpse to capture and enslave his partner Toro.[114] Immortus next traveled to the 1950s of Earth-9904 a reality that was on the brink of invasion by the alien Skrulls, who had one of their agents posing as Richard Nixon. The Wasp and Captain Marvel followed Immortus to that era leading to a clash with that reality's version of the Avengers.[115] However after a brief clash the heroes agreed to work together to stop Immortus. However the Skrull spy was revealed, and Immortus then obliterated the reality with the Forever Crystal. Only the Wasp and Captain Marvel managed to escape back into the time stream.[116]

Immortus reborn in Avengers Forever Vol 1 12

Immortus reborn[15]

Immortus returned to Limbo where the regrouped Avengers went to attack him. He held them at bay with tormenting visions. But one member of the group -- Yellowjacket -- learning that he was destined to become Goliath, offered to help betray his comrades in exchange for Immortus changing history so that he remained Yellowjacket forever.[117] Planting bugs from Limbo on his comrades, Yellowjacket was able to lead Immortus directly to the point in the time stream they were hiding out. Although Immortus managed to incapacitate the team, his actual target - Rick Jones - was nowhere to be found.[17] In order to show the Avengers what was at stake, Immortus transported them to the future of Earth-9812 to see the future that the Time-Keepers were trying to stop. Immortus then brought the Avengers before the Time-Keepers who explained all their manipulations over the years. Appalled by this, Yellowjacket realized that he was making a deal with the devil and freed his fellow Avengers and they fought back against Immortus and the Keepers. They were soon joined by Rick Jones who came with Libra, the Supreme Intelligence and Kang.[72] By this time the Time-Keepers had had enough and retreated back to their native era at the end of time on Earth-794282 where they intended to use the Forever Crystal to power a massive Chrono-Cannon to wipe out the planet Earth from history. When Immortus refused to hand over the Forever Crystal, the Time-Keepers slew him on the spot and took the crystal. The Avengers arrived to stop them, and in order to hold back their attackers they summoned an army of evil Avengers to fight off the heroes. During the struggle the Time-Keepers also attempted to speed up Kang's destiny to turn him into Immortus. However the Avengers fought back when Rick Jones and his Earth-98120 counterpart combined their Destiny Force powers to summon an army of good Avengers to help in the battle.[14]

Ultimately the Avengers prevailed, and the Chrono-Cannon was stopped and the Forever Crystal was destroyed. Kang managed to fight off his transformation by sheer force of will and executed the Time-Keepers. However, Immortus was not dead, he was reborn in a new younger body and both he and Kang quickly realized that their tied destines had been severed. Finally free from becoming Immortus, Kang fled and Immortus departed shortly thereafter and the Avengers were returned to their proper time periods.[15] Not long after this Immortus was briefly imprisoned along with many other time travelers by Akhenaten of Earth-4321.[118] When Akhenaten was slain by Thanos the time travelers were set free.[119]

Heroic Age[]

Nathaniel Richards (Immortus) (Earth-6311) from Avengers Vol 4 1 001

Posing as Kang again[120]

Much later Kang became aware of Earth-10071 wherein the robot Ultron slew the Avengers. Seeing Ultron as a threat to his future empire, Kang gathered an army to stop the robots attempt at conquest. Kang attempted and failed to stop Ultron over 20 times, bringing more and more allies to try and stop his foe. This caused the time stream to break threatening to destroy all existence.[121] Becoming aware of this, Immortus traveled to that era and posing as Kang once again, allied himself with the Hulk, Iron Man, and the youthful Next Avengers to find a means to stop the damage done to the time stream. Disguised as Kang, Immortus traveled to the modern era of Earth-616. His arrival coincided with the formation of a new team of Avengers. Fooled into thinking that they were fighting Kang once again the Avengers battled Immortus, but he managed to convince them of the danger to the time stream. However he led the Avengers to believe that their children, the Next Avengers, were responsible for slaying the group leading to the events of the war with Ultron, and then returned to Earth-10071.[120] Sure enough the Avengers allied themselves with the Kree born warrior the Protector who built a device that allowed them to see the future. Likely through manipulations by Immortus himself, the Avengers viewed a scene where the Next Avengers seemingly slew Immortus in cold blood. Soon after time began to unravel and different points of history began to merge together.[122]

Eventually the Avengers constructed a time machine,[123] and a number of their members travelled to the future of Earth-10071. Upon their arrival they witnessed Ultron's victory before being taken prisoner by the Next Avengers and brought before that eras Hulk and Iron Man.[121] Immortus -- still posing as Kang -- continued to manipulate the group to do their bidding and it was eventually decided that the Avengers were to travel back in time and convince Ultron to purposely lose his battle against Kang in order to preserve the timeline.[124] Ultron agreed, and when the heroes went forward in time they witnessed as Kang and his army defeated Ultron in battle, preventing the damage to the time stream and creating the divergent timeline of Earth-10943. When the Avengers of the modern age left, Immortus dropped his disguise and then turned on Hulk and Iron Man, slaving them. The Next Avengers fought back and seemingly slew Immortus.[125]

Immortus seemingly slain by the Next Avengers in Avengers Vol 4 6

Seeming demise at the hands of the Next Avengers[125]

However, Immortus managed to flee back to Limbo. Over the timeless centuries Immortus has been in control of Limbo he had used the exiled Dire Wraiths in his various battles, all of which are unrecorded, exploiting the fact that the Wraithworld had been displaced to Limbo years earlier by the Spaceknight Rom.[126] However, this eventually took a toll on the Dire Wraiths and they cried out collectively to their leader Volx who was free in the universe.[127] She soon began working with Doctor Dredd to free Wraithworld from Limbo while also destroying the Spaceknights home of Galador. This was opposed by a team of space-born champions calling themselves the Annihilators.[128] Realizing that the Dire Wraiths were suffering and that a spell to bring Wraithworld's black sun into the Galadorian system was threatening to destroy Galador without Wraithworld present the Annihilators agreed to assist Volx in freeing Wraithworld. Their appearance in Limbo was instantly detected by Immortus who sent an army to attack the heroes.[129] However when the hero known as Quasar appealed to Immortus, the lord of Limbo saw that Quasar's survival was important to future developments and ceased his attack, allowing the Annihilators to pull Wraithworld out of Limbo.[127]

Avenge the Earth[]

Immortus and the Infinity Watch from Uncanny Avengers Vol 1 16

Immortus and the Infinity Watch[130]

Immortus soon became an ally to the Avengers again when he became aware that Kang was meddling in the development of the so-called Apocalypse Twins.[131] While the Apocalypse Twins were orchestrating their plan to cause a mutant rapture of Earth, Immortus orchestrated events to send a message to Captain America, warning him that the Twins planned to destroy the Earth and prevent any time travel by using a tachyon field generator to bar any time travelers.[132] Meanwhile, Immortus formed his own team the Infinity Watch recruiting heroes from different points in history, including Captain Marvel, Martinex, Nova, Phoenix, Adam Warlock, Starhawk, Yondu, and the Silver Surfer.[130] Despite the best efforts of the Avengers Unity Team failed to stop the Apocalypse Twins, and the mutant race was "raptured" from Earth while it was destroyed by the Celestial known as Exitar the Executioner destroyed the Earth.[133]

The mutants eventually settled on a new world dubbed Planet X and the remnants of the Unity Team managed to destroy the tachyon field generator about a decade later, allowing Kang and his own group, the Chronos Corps to enter that era.[134] Kang and his minions helped the heroes transmit their minds back in time to the day the Earth was destroyed in order to prevent it from happening.[135] There the Avengers destroyed the tachyon field generator allowing the Chronos Corps to arrive in that era as well. However when Kang attempted to complete his true scheme after all: absorbing the Celestial energy from Exitar after the space god was wounded by Thor,[136] Immortus and his Infinity Watch came to assist the heroes. Ultimately Kang was stopped by the Avengers Havok and Sunfire. When Kang retreated, Immortus and his Infinity Watch departed as well. In preventing the destruction of Earth, reality diverged and as Earth-616 continued on as it was destined, Earth-13133, where Earth was destroyed by the Celestials endured.[137] In the aftermath of the battle Immortus appeared before Havok and the Wasp and informed them that he and his Infinity Watch were now watching over the timeline and searching for Kang.[138]

Original Sin[]

Immortus eventually ended up working with two of his alternates, Kang and Iron Lad at a point in time and space called the "End of the Road" to await the arrival of the "last Avenger".[139] This came in the form of Captain America who was being hurtled forward through time thanks to the damaged Time Infinity Gem. He was rescued from the fractured time stream by Iron Lad after surviving an experience some 51,028 years in the future.[140] Iron Lad then brought Cap before Kang and Immortus. When the Time Gem reappeared the three time travellers trapped it in a a bottle of "No-Time" to prevent it from functioning and sending Cap through time yet again. They explained to Cap that the current crisis threatening to destroy the multiverse was destined to fail if they allowed Cap to continue going forward, Iron Lad's future selves having already lived this moment. However Cap refused to stand back and do nothing when lives were in danger and broke the Time Gem free, and was transported back to his own era before the three incarnations of Immortus could stop him.[141]

Twilight Years[]

Preface[]

The ultimate destiny of Immortus has been seen at different times. However if these are part of a grander deception on the part of Immortus remains to be seen. The points in time that these events occur are also difficult to ascertain. As there is only one Immortus that exists in the multiverse and it is also difficult to determine at what point in the life of Immortus that these events occurred, as such they are presented based on his apparent physical age.

Pope Immortus[]

Church of Immortus (Earth-9997) Universe X Vol 1 1

Pope Immortus and Spiders Man[3]

Immortus soon became aware of Earth-9997, a universe where the age of heroes ended 30 years prior and everyone on Earth had been mutated by Terrigen Mists.[142] In that reality, the Earth was saved from destruction by Galactus who consumed the Celestial living in that world.[143] However the Earth was at risk of destruction due to the fact that destroyed mass of the Celestial embryo caused a shifting of Earth's poles.[144] Having seen a future where a mutated humanity was destined for the stars (the future of Earth-7614) Immortus arrived to that era to try to usher mankind to this destiny. Setting up the Church of Immortus, with the mysterious Mr. Church, they would begin promoting the idea of humanities destiny in the stars. Immortus took up the title of "Pope" of this religion. Among those recruited into the church was the Spiders Man, and who used his illusion casting abilities to make others believe that the Church had food and other supplies during a time when these items were scarce and people were starving in the street or dying in the cold in the newly changed climates.

Centralized in New York, the group would target the Human Torches, giant torches that were made to burn the Terrigen Mists out of the Earth's atmosphere as part of Reed Richards' plan to restore humanity to its proper evolutionary state. Immortus visited Richards and warn him that his Church would do everything in its power to have the Torch's destroyed.[3] Immortus attempted to avoid being mutated by the Terrigen Mists himself by returning to Limbo just before the mists in the Earth's atmosphere would begin to affect him. However Immortus was soon shocked to find that someone had locked him out of Limbo and he himself was starting to mutate, unaware that this was part of Mephisto's plot. Seeing that he was being spied upon by the Ant Men Immortus chased them off. Needing time to figure out what happened Immortus left his church under the care of Mr. Church.[145]

Nathaniel Richards (Immortus) (Earth-6311) from Universe X Vol 1 10 0001

Mutating into Kang[146]

Immortus would eventually mutate, his face peeling off and having a physical form resembling that of Kang the Conqueror.[146] Becoming desperate, Immortus decided that if he could travel through time he could prevent himself from entering this reality and thus prevent his own mutation, the desired result of Mephisto's manipulations. As Mr. Church, Mephisto would bring to Immortus Dr. Doom's time machine (stolen from Castle Doom) and offering it to him. He would be stopped by the timely arrival of Captain Marvel, Kyle Richmond and X-51 who had come to foil Mephisto's plans.[147] When Mephisto attempted to get Immortus to help stop the heroes, he made the mistake of calling him Kang, sending Immortus into a fury, and he destroyed time machine.[148] Immortus, renouncing the idea of becoming his former self again, and joined the heroes in their battle against the Absorbing Man who was unleashed against New York as yet another part of Mephisto's scheme.[149]

Immortus later joined with Reed Richards and a number of that realities other greatest minds, following the death of Death, in order to figure out how to make humanity die, who have not been able to do so following Death's destruction.[150] His whereabouts after this are unknown, presumably Immortus found a way to return to Limbo and found a means to cure himself of his mutation.

Death[]

Nathaniel Richards (Immortus) (Earth-6311) from Avengers The Terminatrix Objective Vol 1 3 001

The death of Immortus[18]

Immortus eventually married the alternate Ravonna and adopted Marcus Kang, son of an alternate Kang and an alternate Ravonna named Revelation; he renamed Marcus Kang into Marcus Immortus. The couple eventually retired in the Limbo to live out their final moments and die together. In order to do so they captured six alternate reality versions of Ravonna and chose the best one to ensure that they both died -- the original Ravonna, calling herself the Terminatrix.[151] When his wife died, Immortus was slain as well, as he died Immortus sent his creation -- Tempus -- back in time to assist his past self.[18] The corpse of Immortus has been used as a source of manipulation at least twice. The first it was used as a decoy in his citadel in Limbo to trick Kang into thinking Immortus was dead and he formed his Council of Kangs.[48] The corpse also turned up on Earth-13044 a world where the Red Skull was committing a massive genocide of mutants. His body was found by the remains of the Avengers Unity Division near a painting warning them of the coming of the Red Onslaught.[152]

Attributes

Power Grid[155]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Poor:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/Single Type: Long Range:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Regenerative:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Warp:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Gifted

Powers

Slowed Aging: Immortus is over 70 years old chronologically, but has managed to stop his aging completely using his far-flung futuristic technology. Thus he appears to be a man in his mid-40s.

Notes

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 What If...? #39
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Avengers Annual #21
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Universe X #1
  4. X-Men: The Animated Series S4E09
  5. Fantastic Four #273
  6. Fantastic Four #19
  7. Fantastic Four Annual #2 & Captain America Annual #11. It is later revealed in Avengers #269 that the frequent time storms that thwarted Kang were created by his future self, Immortus as per Avengers #269 in part of a complex plan to curtail possible divergent realities created by Kang's time travels.
  8. Avengers Annual #2
  9. What If...? #29
  10. Captain America Annual #11
  11. Avengers #9
  12. 12.0 12.1 Avengers: Forever #9
  13. 13.0 13.1 Giant-Size Avengers #3
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 Avengers: Forever #11
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 Avengers: Forever #12
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5 16.6 Thor #282
  17. 17.00 17.01 17.02 17.03 17.04 17.05 17.06 17.07 17.08 17.09 17.10 17.11 17.12 17.13 Avengers: Forever #8
  18. 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 Avengers: The Terminatrix Objective #3
  19. The time storm was seen in Fantastic Four Annual #2 it was revealed to be a manipulation of Immortus in Avengers #269.
  20. 20.0 20.1 Avengers West Coast #61
  21. Avengers #10
  22. Avengers #2. In Thor #261 the Space Phantom convinced Thor that he was actually hired by Immortus to transport various Avengers to Limbo for study. The truth of the matter was not fully revealed until Avengers: Forever #8.
  23. Avengers #6 through 8 as revealed in Avengers #10.
  24. Avengers #10Avengers Classic #10. It was revealed in Avengers: Forever #8 that all the "historical beings" that Immortus summoned were actually Space Phantoms.
  25. Avengers #16
  26. Which occurred in Fantastic Four Annual #2 and was revealed to have been observed by Immortus in Avengers: Forever #6.
  27. The Vision and Scarlet Witch began their romance in Avengers #81. Immortus deciding to use this to his advantage was revealed in Avengers: Forever #8.
  28. The Kree-Skrull War occurred in Avengers #89 through 97. Immortus was seen viewing this and was given his ultimatum by the Time-Keepers in Avengers: Forever #8.
  29. The Vision's struggle with the Grim Reaper and the Space Phantom occurred in Avengers #107 and Avengers #108. The Vision's mind was based on the brain engrams of Wonder Man, the Grim Reaper's brother who was believed to be dead at the time following the events of Avengers #9 as such the Grim Reaper considered the Vision his "brother". Immortus was revealed as manipulating these events in Avengers: Forever #8.
  30. This was revealed in Avengers: Forever #10, the Martian Masters ended up invading Earth in at least three other realities Earth-691 as seen in Amazing Adventures (Vol. 2) #17, Earth-2120 in Killraven (Vol. 2) #1, and Earth-9930 in Avengers: Forever #4. The Badoon later attempted to launch a failed attempt to invade modern day Earth on Earth-616 but were stopped by the Silver Surfer in Silver Surfer #2 but they would later succeed where the Martian Masters failed on Earth-691 as revealed in Marvel Super-Heroes #18.
  31. Avengers #129 and Giant-Size Avengers #2.
  32. Avengers #131. Wonder Man was pulled from Avengers #9. However, it was later revealed in Avengers #152 that he was merely in a state of suspended animation. The Human Torch was not technically dead, but rather deactivated circa 1955 as revealed in Fantastic Four Annual #4. The Torch's life and resurrections are quite complicated but are explained in Avengers: Forever #8. The Ghost was slain in Silver Surfer #9. Midnight was slain in Special Marvel Edition #16 at the hands of Shang-Chi however he was later resurrected in Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #29. Baron Zemo was slain battling Captain America in Avengers #15. The Frankenstein Monster was technically not dead, but was snatched from time during the events of Frankenstein #12.
  33. Avengers #133
  34. 34.0 34.1 Giant-Size Avengers #4
  35. Avengers #133135
  36. Avengers: Forever #8. The Vision learned that he was the original android Human Torch of the 1940s created by Phineas Horton in Marvel Comics #1. The Human Torch was depicted as being deactivated in 1955 and was restored to life by the Mad Thinker to battle the Fantastic Four in Fantastic Four Annual #4. In that story the Torch seemingly sacrificed his life to save the Fantastic Four. It is revealed in Avengers #134 that the Mad Thinker recovered the Torch android. In Avengers #135 it was revealed that the android was taken by the mad robot Ultron who then forced an elderly Phineas Horton to help repair it before killing him. Ultron then rebuilt the Vision and sent him to attack the Avengers as seen in Avengers #57. This wasn't the only manipulation was involved in regarding the past of the Vision and the Human Torch, as explained below.
  37. Avengers #141
  38. Avengers #142
  39. 39.0 39.1 Avengers #200
  40. Avengers #143. Kang survived thanks to a device that transferred his mind into a cloned body in his native time as revealed in Avengers: Forever #9.
  41. Avengers Annual #10
  42. Thor #281
  43. What If? #32
  44. Vision and the Scarlet Witch (Vol. 2) #2
  45. Vision and the Scarlet Witch (Vol. 2) #12
  46. Avengers: Forever #8. The Vision took over the world's computers in Avengers #241 through 254 and Avengers Annual #13.
  47. As seen later in Avengers West Coast #52, Immortus was stated as seeking to manipulate the Scarlet Witch in Avengers West Coast #62. His observations of these events were seen in Avengers: Forever #8.
  48. 48.0 48.1 Avengers #269
  49. Avengers #267 & 268. The Prime Kang was defeated by Thor in Thor #140. Ravonna was put in a near-death coma after the events of Avengers #69.
  50. Avengers #269. Kang cured himself of this insanity by killing himself and creating another pair of divergences of himself as revealed in Avengers: Forever #9.
  51. West Coast Avengers (Vol. 2) #43
  52. West Coast Avengers (Vol. 2) #42
  53. Avengers: Forever #8, Horton was killed by Ultron in Avengers #135.
  54. West Coast Avengers (Vol. 2) #44
  55. West Coast Avengers (Vol. 2) #45
  56. West Coast Avengers (Vol. 2) #4749
  57. Avengers West Coast #48
  58. Avengers West Coast #50. Immortus' manipulation was revealed in Avengers: Forever #8.
  59. Avengers West Coast #5152
  60. Avengers Annual #18
  61. 61.0 61.1 61.2 Avengers West Coast #60
  62. Avengers West Coast #53
  63. Avengers West Coast #54
  64. Avengers West Coast #56
  65. Avengers West Coast #57
  66. Avengers West Coast #59
  67. Avengers West Coast #61. At the time most of these characters were considered deceased. Toro was killed stopping the Mad Thinker in Sub-Mariner #14; the Black Knight was mortally wounded battling Iron Man in Tales of Suspense #73 injuries which he died from as revealed in Avengers #47. The Swordsman died at the hands of Kang in Giant-Size Avengers #2; The Grim Reaper had been dead after falling in a cavern fighting his brother in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (Vol. 2) #2; Left-Winger and Right-Winger were not actually dead, but were in comas following a battle with US Agent during his brief stint as Captain America, who was seeking vengeance for his parents murder after the Wingers revealed Walker's secret identity. This outing occurred in Captain America #345 and the Wingers were put in their comas in Captain America #347; Iron Man 2020 and Oort the Living Comet however came from possible futures. While to date Oort has not been seen since, Arno has been seen slain by a zombie virus unleashed in his native reality in Marvel Zombies 5 #4.
  68. Avengers West Coast #62. The alternate realities created here were Earth-909 where the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were burnt at the stake by frightened villagers during their youth; Earth-9090 where the Swordsman was shamed by a young Hawkeye and he renounced his criminal ways; Earth-9091 where Tony Stark was killed by the shrapnel that otherwise led to the birth of Iron Man; Earth-9092 where Wonder Man actually died during his first battle with the Avengers and in dying the energies unleashed also slew the Avengers; Earth-9093 where the Wasp was slain by the creature from Kosmos who slew her father; Earth-9094 where Henry Pym's first wife Maria Troyvana did not die; and Earth-9095 where US Agent's parents were not killed. It was later revealed in What If...? #39.
  69. 69.0 69.1 69.2 What If...? #38
  70. What If...? #35
  71. What If...? #37
  72. 72.0 72.1 Avengers: Forever #10
  73. X-Men: The Animated Series S4E08
  74. Avengers #345
  75. Avengers #347
  76. Iron Man #278
  77. Avengers: Forever #8. The Avengers would clash with Onslaught starting in Avengers #400 and ending in Onslaught: Marvel #1. See the Onslaught event for more details.
  78. 78.0 78.1 Iron Man #325
  79. Avengers West Coast #102
  80. Force Works #1
  81. 81.0 81.1 Iron Man #321
  82. 82.0 82.1 Force Works #20
  83. Iron Man #319
  84. Avengers #375
  85. 85.0 85.1 Avengers #393
  86. Avengers #393. The real Mantis was identified as the Celestial Madonna in Giant-Size Avengers #3 and followed that destiny in Giant-Size Avengers #4. She was later stripped of her celestial powers during the course of West Coast Avengers Annual #3 and West Coast Avengers (Vol. 2) #37 through 39.
  87. Libra was revealed as the father of Mantis back in Avengers #133. Moonraker was placed among Force Works in Force Works #16. His "mission" and the basic manipulation of his "allies" was revealed in Force Works #18 and Force Works #19. However the Avengers later learned that Libra was not Moonraker in Avengers: Forever #2 and Immortus' hand in that deception was revealed in Avengers: Forever #8.
  88. 88.0 88.1 Force Works #19
  89. 89.0 89.1 89.2 Avengers: The Crossing #1
  90. 90.0 90.1 Avengers #390
  91. 91.0 91.1 Avengers #392
  92. 92.0 92.1 Avengers #391
  93. 93.0 93.1 War Machine #23
  94. As seen in Force Works #18 and War Machine #21 respectively. It was revealed that these were the actual villains and not Space Phantoms in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #1.
  95. This occurred between Iron Man #321 and Force Works #19.
  96. Iron Man #320
  97. Force Works #16
  98. Force Works #17
  99. War Machine #20
  100. Iron Man #322
  101. Force Works #18
  102. War Machine #21
  103. Avengers #323
  104. War Machine #17
  105. Iron Man #324
  106. Avengers #394
  107. Avengers: Timeslide #1
  108. Avengers #395
  109. Onslaught: Marvel #1. See also the Heroes Reborn event
  110. Heroes Reborn: The Return #1 through 4. Avengers 2001 #1 clarified that Iron Man of Earth-616 was restored to life between Onslaught: Marvel #1 and Iron Man (Vol. 2) #1 and merged with his Earth-96020 counterpart. Upon his return to his proper reality in Heroes Reborn: The Return #4, Stark maintained the memories of his past life, his Earth-96020 counterpart and the events that happened on Counter-Earth
  111. Avengers: Forever #1 Each Avenger came from different points in history. Captain America from Captain America #175, Hawkeye is from Avengers #99, Yellowjacket is from Avengers #59, while Goliath and the Wasp are both from Avengers (Vol. 3) #11.
  112. Avengers: Forever #2
  113. Avengers: Forever #3
  114. Avengers: Forever #8. The Original Human Torch and the modern day Torch battled each other in Fantastic Four Annual #4. The Mad Thinker used the Torch's body in Sub-Mariner #14 and Ultron obtaining the Torch's body to make the Vision was revealed in Avengers #134.
  115. Avengers: Forever #4
  116. Avengers: Forever #5
  117. Avengers: Forever #7
  118. Marvel Universe: The End #2
  119. Marvel Universe: The End #4
  120. 120.0 120.1 Avengers (Vol. 4) #1
  121. 121.0 121.1 Avengers (Vol. 4) #4
  122. Avengers (Vol. 4) #2
  123. Avengers (Vol. 4) #3
  124. Avengers (Vol. 4) #5
  125. 125.0 125.1 Avengers (Vol. 4) #6
  126. Rom #65
  127. 127.0 127.1 Annihilators #4
  128. Annihilators #1
  129. Annihilators #3
  130. 130.0 130.1 Uncanny Avengers #16
  131. Uncanny Avengers #5
  132. Uncanny Avengers #9
  133. Uncanny Avengers #17
  134. Uncanny Avengers #18.NOW
  135. Uncanny Avengers #1920
  136. Uncanny Avengers #21
  137. Uncanny Avengers #22
  138. Uncanny Avengers #23
  139. Avengers (Vol. 5) #34
  140. Avengers (Vol. 3) #33
  141. Avengers (Vol. 3) #34
  142. Earth X #0
  143. Earth X #X
  144. Universe X #0
  145. Universe X #6
  146. 146.0 146.1 Universe X #10
  147. Universe X #11
  148. Universe X #12
  149. Universe X: X #1
  150. Paradise X #4
  151. Avengers: The Terminatrix Objective #2
  152. Uncanny Avengers #4
  153. Timeless #1
  154. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #5
  155. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 7
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