Far-Back Fridays is a column dedicated to paying homage to our geeks of yester-year. There will be reviews and trailers and sights/smells/sounds from back-in-the-geekly-day. We here at DFAT want to honor our past, so we know where we will head into the FUTURE!
Back in the early/mid 1990’s we were given a great gift by Marvel Comics, the 2099 universe. My two personal favorite titles from this era were Doom 2099 and Ravage 2099, they may have been my first subscription books if I remember correctly. Interestingly enough Ravage was the one original character created specifically for 2099. Doom was actually the original Victor Von Doom, whom through magic was able to resurrect himself! I collected these books because they were “fresh” new stories, something new that enticed us as readers to see what was happening WAY down the road in the Marvel U! Crazy story lines, and cyber-punk backdrops made these titles a must read!! Oh and Peter David (X-Factor) writing Spidey 2099 didn’t hurt either!
Here’s a short synopsis of 2099:
The world of 2099 is a cyberpunk dystopia, very similar to the world Ridley Scott created for Blade Runner. North America is a corporate police state ruled by a few huge megacorps, most notably Alchemax, which owns the private police force the Public Eye, which primarily punishes criminals’ bank accounts. There were, prior to the launch of the comics, no active superheroes in this world, and the previous heroes are mythologized through religion, as with the Church of Thor. The present-day Marvel continuity is referred to as an “Age of Heroes” that abruptly ended in a catastrophe a century before that also set back society (This catastrophe was averted in the present when Miguel O’Hara, Spider-Man 2099, temporarily swapped places with his past self shortly before the cataclysm, turning Miguel’s world into an alternate future of the Marvel Universe rather than the future).
Fall of the Hammer:
When Avatarr, the director of Alchemax, created the group known as the Aesir (who are not the true Norse Gods, but re-occurring characters from the different 2099 titles), in order to combat the increasing surge of vigilante heroes, he also created a floating city called Valhalla to house them. Miguel O’Hara (aka Spider-Man) and his girlfriend Dana are aboard when suddenly Thor and Heimdall appear and claim the city for themselves. They order all technicians and scientists to leave, but Thor is amazed by Dana’s beauty and wants her to stay at his side. Miguel causes a fight until Thor knocks him over the edge of the platform. Once out of sight, he uses a webline to attach himself to the downside of the platform. He deliberately provoked the fight to get the chance to change into his Spider-Man costume, yet by the time he returns, the staff, including Dana, have already left Valhalla in small shuttles. Thor picks a fight with the hero, who states that he doesn’t believe in the Norse gods. As punishment, Thor hurls his hammer at Spider-Man full force, and it propels him to New York, where he is crushed by it. Meanwhile, the man-beast Ravage and the X-Men investigate the city looking for Meanstreak’s friend Jordan Boon. Boone, however, is more interested in becoming superhuman to keep up with his long-time friend. So while Ravage teamed up with Doom and the X-Men, Boone tricked (we can all see where this is going) his way into the Aesir program and encouraged them to make him into 2099’s Loki.
After the X-Men and Doom fought with the Aesir, killing Heimdall with the help of Loki, Doom faced off against 2099’s Thor. They fought until an explosion ripped the pair apart, and each regrouped separately. Ravage, who snuck away, runs into his friend/former assistant, Tiana, who attacks him as Hela. Ravage quickly realizes that these “Gods” are not who they think they are. While Thor was reminded of his mortality by his master, Avatarr, Doom joined a group consisting of 2099’s Spider-Man, Punisher, and Ravage to bring the city under control before its faulty engines caused it to collapse onto New York. Meanwhile, the X-Men themselves helped the workers on the floating city to safety. The heroes realize that they need Thor’s hammer as a power-source to stop Valhalla’s demise a second time. The Punisher discovers that Thor is his reverend Cecil McAdam and by confusing him, manages to grab the hammer with some help from Spider-Man. The floating city gets re-powered, and Doom claims it for himself and makes off with it. Alchemax’s leader Avatarr appears as a hologram and vows vengeance.
Reading Order:
Part 1 – Spider-Man 2099 #16 – Spider-Man battles Thor and Heimdall.
Part 2 – Ravage 2099 #15 – the X-Men seek Ravage’s help in finding Jordan Boone as Ravage battles Hela.
Part 3 – X-Men 2099 #5 – the X-Men clash with Heimdall and learn the truth behind the Aesir from Loki.
Part 4 – Doom 2099 #14 – Doom battles Thor as Valhalla begins to malfunction.
Part 5 – Punisher 2099 #13 – the heroes defeat the Aesir and stop Valhalla from crashing.
Related Issues:
- Ravage 2099 #14 – Ravage seeks to stop Valhalla, and learns that the other heroes of 2099 have a similar goal.
- Spider-Man 2099 #15 – Spider-Man defeats the Fenris and their leader, Bloodsword, as Thor and Heimdall lay claim to Valhalla.
- Spider-Man 2099 #17 – Bloodsword claims Thor’s hammer, renaming himself Bloodhammer.
