Avengers Forever #10 (September 1999)

It's that time again! It's time to join Earth's Mightiest Heroes in their epic battle throughout time and space to stop the mad schemes of Immortus. Throughout this adventure, we've seen tragedy, triumph, and betrayal. So, let's continue this adventure and look at Avengers Forever #10!

The cover is a Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Merino piece, and it's...well...yeah. It depicts the Avengers being changed up. But I can't help but wonder if Songbird's posing there was deliberate.

Seriously.

"Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow..."
Writers: Kurt Busiek and Roger Stern
Penciler: Carlos Pacheco
Inker: Jesus Merino
Colorist: Steve Oliff
Letterers: Richard Starkings and Albert Deschesne
Editor: Tim Brevoort
Editor-in-Chief: Bob Harras

The story begins with the Avengers waking up and finding themselves...in big trouble. Mainly in the form of facing the Avengers-themed army of Emperor Rickard. Remember that from the first issue? And the ragtag group of Earth's Mightiest Heroes have another problem. They were put under some sort of illusion make the army think they are…

Yup, the original Guardians of the Galaxy! 

And naturally, a big ol' fight breaks out. The Avengers Army try to capture them with special tactical nets. But the Avengers have a little secret weapon.

The heroes manifest a strange power that allows them to break free of the nets, but it doesn't save them from the power of Emperor Rickard himself. He reveals that the Avengers had just unknowingly tapped the Destiny Force. The Avengers are captured, but they get an unlikely savior.

Yup, ol' Yellowjacket himself. "But, wait!" You may be asking. "Didn't he betray the Avengers?!" Well...kind of. He is working for Immortus...and he is the reason why Emperor Rickard thinks the Avengers are the original Guardians of the Galaxy. He had infested the Avengers with "limbo bugs", little green insects that can warp perceptions. 

Anyway, Immortus had brought the Avengers to this future because he wanted them to see why he wanted Rick Jones dead. Yellowjacket brings the Avengers to meet some people.

Yup, the Time-Keepers. You may be somewhat familiar with them from the Loki series on Disney+. We learn about their origins here. The Time-Keepers were beings of pure knowledge created by He Who Remains, the last living being in the universe. The purpose of the Time-Keepers would be to safeguard the next version of the universe. However, the Multiverse is vast. And in some timelines, instead of becoming Time-Keepers, they became malevolent Time-Twisters.

One such Time-Twister rampage was shown in Thor (1966) #242-245. But the Time-Keepers see one group as the true threat to the universe: Humanity. Humanity has a unique drive amongst all the other races, and access to the Destiny Force. It's clear the Keepers want to basically eliminate humanity. Immortus, however, sees another way. His schemes over the years have all had one purpose: Keep humans on Earth. He's turned the attention of the "Martians" (Prior to Amazing Adventures (1970) #18), and the Badoon (Prior to Silver Surfer (1968) #2, which showed the Surfer driving them off) to the planet as part of this goal. If they stay on Earth, then they can't subjugate the cosmos. The Keepers think Immortus is nuts.

After all, humanity has driven off Galactus, the World-Eater (Fantastic Four (1961) #50), the Celestials (Eternals (1976) #12), and even the Infinites (Foreshadowing of the 2000 miniseries Avengers Infinity). Because of this, the Time-Keepers have decided that the only way to solve the problem is basically...do a bit of timeline-culling, which means the deaths of an unimaginable amount of people. And not just on those Earths.

About 42% of the existing timelines should be enough, by the Keepers' calculations. Captain America is outraged. He points out in the majority of these timelines, humanity doesn't go bad. The Keepers should be helping try to save those bad timelines! Goliath points out that the Time-Keepers don't eliminate themselves in an attempt to prevent the Time-Twisters coming into existence. Songbird also adds that humanity does try and do better.

The Avengers start manifesting the Destiny Force briefly, and it seems like a fight is about to break out. But Yellowjacket has one last surprise. You see, he's called in a bit of help for the Avengers.

Yup, Rick Jones and Kang have come to party! And they're bringing along the Supreme Intelligence because...well, he was lonely and wanted to come along.

I enjoyed this issue, but I admit, it did feel like not a lot happened. It's weird because we do get some stuff pushed along, like we ultimately learn why this whole mess is going down. What I do love about this story, as I have said before, is how this story ties in various previous stories from Marvel's history and makes it look like they were all already part of a grand narrative. Busiek and Stern are masters at it here, and I am so envious. This is why I love canon and continuity. It feels like these old stories mattered. As I have said in the past, this story can be a bit intimidating for the non-hardcore Marvel fan. 

If you wish to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2001 trade paperback Avengers Forever. Thanks for reading this blog entry! See you next time!