Marvel Database
Register
Advertisement

NamorQuote1 "It matters." The way you people talk about your lives-- Like they mean something... "It matters." I am the greatest man I know... But compared to this, I'm nothing. Just as you... are nothing. Am I the only man here with the courage of his convictions... Or am I the only one with conviction at all? Quote2
Mister FantasticQuote1 Namor... Don't... It's not worth it. Quote2
NamorQuote1 These lines you won't cross... These things you won't do... They shame you. How dare any of you put yourself--your damned morals--above the lives of every living thing? The truth is, you people aren't worth that... And neither am I. Our lives are a pittance. A petty, small nothing... Quote2
Black PantherQuote1 Namor! NOOOO! Quote2
NamorQuote1 Of course this is worth it. Now watch... As I do what you could not. Quote2

Appearing in "The Bomb"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • T'Chaka (Vision or hallucination) (Main story and flashback)
  • Deceased Black Panthers (Vision or hallucination)

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:


Synopsis for "The Bomb"

Before the incursion, in the Wakandan Necropolis, the ghost of T'Chaka confronted his living son, asking why Namor's actions against Wakanda's people had not been met with his murder. T'Challa had responded by saying he still needed Namor to fulfill an end. T'Chaka said that as he was, he saw only what is and is not, and could not predict or emote. T'Chaka demanded his son exact vengeance, stating that while a king may grant a criminal mercy, it brings nothing but tragedy in the end.

On the Earth of the Great Society, today, the Illuminati watch in horror. Stephen Strange has used the darkest of magics to summon a vampiric tentacle mass to kill this world's heroes. Worried for their friend, the Illuminati combine their skills to power a repulsor blast to stun him back to normal.

In the confusion, Sun God tries to free the Rider, who admits that he was wrong, before they both succumb to the tentacles.

In the Illuminati's base, Maximus the Mad has a theory he wants to run past Black Swan. Knowing that he will talk regardless, she smiles cryptically, and is proved right. Based on his research into all the previous missions of the Black Swans, Maximus has come to the conclusion that they persistently recruit heroes when they find an Earth, presumably because they will be motivated by a simple morality with clear limits. On this Earth, however, and quite by accident, Black Swan has recruited kings. Kings do not serve a simple morality, but are rather bound by an ever-shifting mass of obligation that requires them to be more, do more, to protect their people from things their people steadfastly refuse to educate themselves about.

On the other Earth, the Illuminati gather around their bomb. It is intact. With it, they can blow up this world and save both universes. Still alive, Sun God begs them to reconsider, but they say they cannot. They offer him asylum on their Earth, and he says he would rather die with his friends. They commiserate, and fly back to their world.

The Illuminati then argue about what to do with the bomb. Mister Fantastic, Bruce Banner and Beast all refuse to activate it on moral grounds, Tony Stark will not because he already faced the karmic toll of building the thing, and Stephen Strange is angry at the Illuminati for interrupting his spell and throwing away his "gift" with no accounting for the price he had paid for it.

Black Panther picks up the detonator. As he delays pressing the button, the ghost of his father comes to him demanding action. It was the job of the Black Panthers to protect the kingdom in life. Now their power flows through T'Challa as King of the Dead, but now, by the compact between ruler and ruled, they demand he activate the bomb and save the kingdom. It is not just, but it is required of him.

Black Panther holds up the detonator... and puts it down again. He cannot. Enraged, T'Chaka strips him of his kingdom, of his people, and of his post as King of the Dead. As far as T'Chaka is concerned, he has no son.

In the silence that follows, Mister Fantastic goes to comfort his friend. Namor picks up the detonator. He admits that while he has known peers, he has never met a man he respected as truly greater than himself, but that this situation dwarfs even him. He scolds the Illuminati for holding their morality above the countless lives of two universes, telling them that neither their lives nor his are worth anything in the face of that.

Namor presses the detonator. Above him, a planet called Earth explodes in the evening sky...

Solicit Synopsis

• A world must die! But which New Avenger will find the strength to press the button? And what will come in the aftermath?

Trivia

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. Weaver, Dustin (29 April 2014) Dustin Weaver: Entry 236: The New Avengers 20 & 21 COVERS Blogger. Retrieved on 10 February 2020.
Advertisement