Fear Itself

Bleeding Cool has been pointing out some...interesting consistencies that have been happening in the MU lately.


It all starts with Cap's apocalyptic vision at the end of Cap Reborn:


These "War of the Worlds" like tripods have popped up a few other future visions or places now too.

Avengers #4:


Invincible Iron Man:


Amazing Spider-Man (Big Time):


More Invincible Iron Man:



They think this War of the Worlds-like "connection" is suspicious, especially considering the first arc in Secret Avengers dealt with Cap and company going to Mars...

And now Gage, via Twitter, confirms some kind of "big time secret event"!
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/12/10/christos-gage-confirms-big-time-secret-event/

"Issue 13 is the Superhero Prom. And 14 has awesome high-profile villains & ties in with Big Time Secret Event Rich Johnston (from Bleeding Cool) Is Wrong About."


And here come the teaser ads...something to do with "fear"...




Just a throwaway line, or something more?



And there is the "Fear Without Man" marking on future Tony's timeline right before "Ultron War"...



What does this "fear" business all mean? Something involving Daredevil? Phobos? Parallax??? Where's conspiracy aficionado Dr. Wade when you need him?!

Fear without Man looks pretty far off given where they were in time then.

I figured the fear stuff was about the Daredevil relaunch, but after seeing this stuff, it could be something way different.

Looks as if they are defnitly leaning towards a H. G. Wells War of the Worlds direction, possibly re-introduce Killraven back into the Marvel U.

I figured since that Captain America one that there was some hint of things to come. Not so sure that the Iron Man stuff may just be a coincidence since it was all in Tony's mind but all the others are certainly portents of the future.

And isn't Killraven's whereabouts a little unknown at the moment? I seem to recall him being stuck in the present in Avengers and then what happened to him next being glossed over a little. My memory could be a bit sketchy on that.

Aussiemandias wrote:Not so sure that the Iron Man stuff may just be a coincidence since it was all in Tony's mind but all the others are certainly portents of the future.

After reading the most recent Iron Man I take this back - that is most certainly the biggest hint yet. It seems to me it's not so much a martians attack kind of thing but looks like it's going to be more of a rise of the machines kind of thing. That might explain why J.A.R.V.I.S. knows there's something going on.

I'm on my phone so o can't post the image but there is one of cyclops dressed as magnetto and it says dp you fear what you become? So its been what, 2 months since the last great crossover?

This..

Aussiemandias wrote:

Aussiemandias wrote:Not so sure that the Iron Man stuff may just be a coincidence since it was all in Tony's mind but all the others are certainly portents of the future.

After reading the most recent Iron Man I take this back - that is most certainly the biggest hint yet. It seems to me it's not so much a martians attack kind of thing but looks like it's going to be more of a rise of the machines kind of thing. That might explain why J.A.R.V.I.S. knows there's something going on.

You could be right on that Aussie! And with that "Architects" initiative Marvel recently released, we know for sure that Fraction is the one writing the "top secret event". So we'll have to keep our eyes open in his books.

An event is the last thing I want in Marvel right now.

I don't know, after Shadowland, events with Marvel are really iffy with me at the moment. I think they need to do a slow build-up, or have the events leading to something, like with Civil War/Secret Invasion/everything else in the past decade. If they have this fear thing be the start of a new massive arc, I would really dig it.

These look really, really cool but remember the other teasers we had? These could be done for the hell of it without being literal.

Another event? What the hell? Marvel said they were taking a break from events. They said that, and then Shadowland came out, and now this? UGH!!

Just thinking about it I don't think these "fear" ads really gel with the whole "rise of the machines" omens so I think they're 2 different things. In which case these "fear" ads may not be an event as such.

I would expect the fear stuff to be more mystical in nature, less about machines.

But... the fear ads certainly seem to signal a massive event, and Gage seems to have suggested that the machines and the fear ads tie together, so...

I have to think the Octobots are a coincidence. The machines in Tony's mind becoming a threat to the MU in the future is one thing. The machines in Tony's mind having something to do with the machines Doc Ock released on New York? That's just kind of dumb.

The machines in Tony's mind were trying to destroy Iron Man, or prevent Tony from returning to BE Iron Man. But... were they doing this because some outside force didn't want Tony to be Iron Man, or because Tony himself was trying to run from that responsibility... maybe because he was afraid of facing the world again.

So... what if the nano-machines in Tony that already react to him are becoming specifically attuned to his fear? Or even ALL fear. Pepper could be aware of them because of the repulsor tech. But what if the nano-machines are building larger versions of themselves outside of Tony? What if his fear, or all fear, will drive these machines? Could Ultron be involved? He was just dealt a rather pathetic defeat in Mighty Avengers. Could Matt Murdock return at the end of this event as a savior, a true man without fear. What if... are the machines afraid?

All I can say is, as much as I hated Shadowland. As luke warm as I've been for many recent events/crossovers, everything about this has me pretty excited. I feel it's being hyped VERY well. Now we just need to see where it all goes.

UltimateUltimacy (Sat Dec 11, 2010 10:53 am) wrote:Fear without Man looks pretty far off given where they were in time then.

Not really...

Siege and Heroic Age Begins were AT MOST 6 months real time. "Fear without man," if all is to scale, is about 18 months after "Heroic Age Begins." The Heroic Age began a good 6 months ago. Therefore, "fear without man" should be next winter. Then again... consider that in 616 time, there was some time which had passed between Siege and the first arc of Avengers. Then some time passes between the first arc of Avengers, and Avengers 7, which starts a new arc. Once that ends... right around April... there'll be another quick jump before the "fear without man" story.

Basically, it COULD all line up. It just means that the Ultron War isn't too far off, at all. The only real question this all raises is, who were those kids? Because based on this timeline, those kids will exist, at the ages as seen in that future timeline, within two to three years tops.

This all also begs the questions:

What is/are/were "throwbacks?" This should have happened just prior to Chaos War, which is happening now.
Why doesn't Hood's bid for Infinity seem to be represented?
Return of the king? Blackbolt?
"Night falls?" Something.... Sleepwalker related?
"All hope lies in Doom?"
Why is Stark Resilient so far up the timeline, when that's going on now? Or is Stark Resilient something more than what the storyline is leading us to believe?

That last question may well be the most important. Tony Stark is currently trying to power the world with RT. What if "Stark Resilient" refers to Tony successfully hooking up an RT powergrid for the world, and whatever's in his mind using that as an opportunity to get loose? Hell... what if the RT creates these nano-scopic robots to process the power, and creating RT generators big enough to power the world means they then give rise to similarly enlarged machines. But maybe the machines fear man? Or a side effect of the machines is some sort of radiation that induces fear.

I don't know. I was supposed to write a 52 Pick Up tonight. Now I'm going to go get three hours of sleep before work.

The write-up for Iron Man 500 takes another line from the timeline "What's in the ring(s)" and ties it with the Mandarin, also asking about "weaponized amnesia."

SO... what if the Mandarin's rings aren't magic, but technology. What if he's used them to infect Tony - or repulsor tech in general - with the nano-machines that we saw eating away at Tony's memory. Once more, what if further development of the RT means further exposing the world to these machines? Hell, what if the Mandarin has a way of infecting the world's heroes with these machines and crippling them with their own fears?

Spider-Man fears a threat he can't punch.
Cyclops fears he's gone too far.
Steve Rogers fears he's failed his country, or more likely that his country has failed him.
Iron Man... fears his own responsibilities? That's why he gives up the business, except for Stark Resilient? And maybe that's PART of Mandarin's plan, MAKING Tony put RT out into the world, so that it CAN infect everyone else.

This would also explain the alien look of these robots, if they're derived from alien tech, even though they aren't necessarily part of an alien attack. It does kind of pose the question - What's the Mandarin's end game? - but that could really be anything at all.

Mnemosis wrote:I would expect the fear stuff to be more mystical in nature, less about machines.

But... the fear ads certainly seem to signal a massive event, and Gage seems to have suggested that the machines and the fear ads tie together, so...

I have to think the Octobots are a coincidence. The machines in Tony's mind becoming a threat to the MU in the future is one thing. The machines in Tony's mind having something to do with the machines Doc Ock released on New York? That's just kind of dumb.

The machines in Tony's mind were trying to destroy Iron Man, or prevent Tony from returning to BE Iron Man. But... were they doing this because some outside force didn't want Tony to be Iron Man, or because Tony himself was trying to run from that responsibility... maybe because he was afraid of facing the world again.

So... what if the nano-machines in Tony that already react to him are becoming specifically attuned to his fear? Or even ALL fear. Pepper could be aware of them because of the repulsor tech. But what if the nano-machines are building larger versions of themselves outside of Tony? What if his fear, or all fear, will drive these machines? Could Ultron be involved? He was just dealt a rather pathetic defeat in Mighty Avengers. Could Matt Murdock return at the end of this event as a savior, a true man without fear. What if... are the machines afraid?

All I can say is, as much as I hated Shadowland. As luke warm as I've been for many recent events/crossovers, everything about this has me pretty excited. I feel it's being hyped VERY well. Now we just need to see where it all goes.

Very interesting analysis.

Bigtymin504 wrote:

Mnemosis wrote:I would expect the fear stuff to be more mystical in nature, less about machines.

But... the fear ads certainly seem to signal a massive event, and Gage seems to have suggested that the machines and the fear ads tie together, so...

I have to think the Octobots are a coincidence. The machines in Tony's mind becoming a threat to the MU in the future is one thing. The machines in Tony's mind having something to do with the machines Doc Ock released on New York? That's just kind of dumb.

The machines in Tony's mind were trying to destroy Iron Man, or prevent Tony from returning to BE Iron Man. But... were they doing this because some outside force didn't want Tony to be Iron Man, or because Tony himself was trying to run from that responsibility... maybe because he was afraid of facing the world again.

So... what if the nano-machines in Tony that already react to him are becoming specifically attuned to his fear? Or even ALL fear. Pepper could be aware of them because of the repulsor tech. But what if the nano-machines are building larger versions of themselves outside of Tony? What if his fear, or all fear, will drive these machines? Could Ultron be involved? He was just dealt a rather pathetic defeat in Mighty Avengers. Could Matt Murdock return at the end of this event as a savior, a true man without fear. What if... are the machines afraid?

All I can say is, as much as I hated Shadowland. As luke warm as I've been for many recent events/crossovers, everything about this has me pretty excited. I feel it's being hyped VERY well. Now we just need to see where it all goes.

Very interesting analysis.

Yeah it is but I don't agree. I think it's trying to draw together a whole bunch of separate things.

Aussiemandias wrote:

Bigtymin504 wrote:

Mnemosis wrote:I would expect the fear stuff to be more mystical in nature, less about machines.

But... the fear ads certainly seem to signal a massive event, and Gage seems to have suggested that the machines and the fear ads tie together, so...

I have to think the Octobots are a coincidence. The machines in Tony's mind becoming a threat to the MU in the future is one thing. The machines in Tony's mind having something to do with the machines Doc Ock released on New York? That's just kind of dumb.

The machines in Tony's mind were trying to destroy Iron Man, or prevent Tony from returning to BE Iron Man. But... were they doing this because some outside force didn't want Tony to be Iron Man, or because Tony himself was trying to run from that responsibility... maybe because he was afraid of facing the world again.

So... what if the nano-machines in Tony that already react to him are becoming specifically attuned to his fear? Or even ALL fear. Pepper could be aware of them because of the repulsor tech. But what if the nano-machines are building larger versions of themselves outside of Tony? What if his fear, or all fear, will drive these machines? Could Ultron be involved? He was just dealt a rather pathetic defeat in Mighty Avengers. Could Matt Murdock return at the end of this event as a savior, a true man without fear. What if... are the machines afraid?

All I can say is, as much as I hated Shadowland. As luke warm as I've been for many recent events/crossovers, everything about this has me pretty excited. I feel it's being hyped VERY well. Now we just need to see where it all goes.

Very interesting analysis.

Yeah it is but I don't agree. I think it's trying to draw together a whole bunch of separate things.

Yeah probably...but maybe not.