History
The Book of Antag was created by Antag, a space wanderer who once served Dr. Doom and who took pleasure in puzzle making. According to Mainframe, Antag wrote to book to leave clues that would lead to the location of Captain America's shield.[2]
In 3017 A.D., Yondu Udonta, a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy, found a copy of the Book of Antag, written in the runes used by the Centaurian people, among his belongings aboard their starship, the Freedom's Lady. Wondering if the strange book might have been a gift from the Ancient One, whom the Guardians had met several months earlier, Yondu took it to Major Astro. While examining the book, Astro came across an illustration of a brightly colored disk that supposedly granted its possessor invincibility in battle. Astro recognized the disk as Captain America's shield and concluded that the book was a galaxy-spanning puzzle that led to the shield.[3][1]
The mercenary team known as Force obtained a second copy of the Book of Antag and began to solve the clues that led to the location of the legendary shield which, they believed, would make them literally invincible.[4] Force apparently did not know that the demon Mephisto had made certain that they had come into possession of that copy so that they would eventually battle the Guardians for the shield and, Mephisto hoped, destroy them.[5]Notes
- The last clue in the Book of Antag reads: "...Beyond the Plieades, around a star that gives no light...awaits the shield for any worthy enough to possess it!"[6] This clue was also inscribed, in runes similar to those used by the Centaurians, on a stone tablet kept in a temple on the planet Entem.[7] Although Pleiades was spelled correctly in issue #4, it was misspelled in issues #5 and 25.
- Despite being written in Centaurian runes, the fact that Yondu had never heard of the Book of Antag and did not know its origin suggests that it was not something held sacred by the natives of Centauri-IV. There is also no indication that the book itself was magical or had been created by magic.
- The two accounts of how the Book of Antag was found by the Guardians differ slightly, with the later version clarifying that the book was not from Yondu's world and that it was Major Astro who first noticed the chapter about the familiar-looking shield.
- It has never been confirmed that it was the Ancient One who was responsible for secretly placing the Book of Antag among Yondu's belongings.
- It has not been revealed when and where Antag wrote the book, how he knew that the shield was on Klatuu, and if the clues were meant for certain people (like the Guardians or, more specifically, Major Astro).
See Also
- 3 appearance(s) of Book of Antag
- 2 mention(s) of Book of Antag
- 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Book of Antag
- 1 image(s) of Book of Antag