Marvel: Raising — Chapter 149 - The Helplessness of Apocalypse

In plenty of movies and shows, superheroes aren't exactly shining beacons of light like Ultraman.

They're still partners of justice, sure.

But once you combine that with the good ol' US of A as the backdrop.

That justice immediately becomes a punchline.

Take disaster response. You can't explain why Iron Man cuts power to Stark Industries to go save a sparrow / cat / dog / cow.

And then turns around and offers disaster loans to the victims.

And setting reality aside, once you factor in diversity and correctness, Marvel movies and shows have just gotten uglier one after another.

Take the repeatedly reshot Captain America 4.

It's hard to imagine that in a movie featuring Red Hulk, Betty, and Ross, the main character ends up being Falcon.

And that's just the screen stuff.

If you actually lived in the Marvel world.

The laughs would never stop. Guaranteed comedy gold, every single day.

That was Guan Fuyun's source of joy.

...

It was also the root of Apocalypse's helplessness.

The mutant Apocalypse. En Sabah Nur.

In the movies, he's an Egyptian pharaoh. The first mutant.

In the comics, he's the adopted son of the pharaoh of Egypt's First Dynasty, and that pharaoh was actually a Kang, specifically, a variant of Kang the Conqueror.

On Blue Star, though.

Because the Sentinels were wiped out early, Professor X and Magneto, along with a whole crew of mutants, became company employees.

Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters was handed over to the authorities.

So naturally, the Days of Future Past storyline never happened.

Which meant.

When Apocalypse got dug up by some construction bros and saw the short videos and superhero highlight reels absolutely everywhere.

His head was spinning.

In the movie, Apocalypse uses his powers to rapidly scan through all of human history and development. What he sees leaves him thoroughly disgusted with the current state of mutantkind. He especially can't accept that the world is ruled by weak, ordinary humans. And so he brings about a superhuman war.

But now?

The entire planet survived at the mercy of one man, and that man was Guan Fuyun.

Crushing the Shi'ar. Moving planets around. Keeping Ego penned up like livestock.

His power was beyond anything Apocalypse could even imagine.

And that was just the adopted son.

The one called The Homie could physically walk across the surface of the sun and shove star systems around with his bare hands.

That, too, left Apocalypse eating dust.

And the treatment mutants got?

Even more comfortable.

In the short videos.

Apocalypse saw Erik, Charles, and Logan. Officially retired. Magneto's title passed down to Polaris. The X-Men handed over to Cyclops. Wolverine's suit given to X-23 Laura.

And then the three of them, every single day, livestreaming with big grins, raking in money, traveling the world.

He saw Deadpool, that absolute menace, somehow massively popular.

He saw Xavier's School graduates getting placed directly into film sets straight out of school.

And it wasn't just mutants.

The Hulk. Thor. All massive stars too.

There was even Tsunade livestreaming her Sky-Piercing Kick, Jiraiya whose Make-Out Paradise was a viral sensation for a while, all kinds of ninja girl groups, and Naruto and Sasuke who'd already debuted.

Everyone had a bright future.

"..."

Apocalypse felt that this world had lost its mind. But it had lost its mind in the most delightful way possible.

And he was nothing but a relic of a dead era.

"Maybe I should just bury myself back in the ground?"

That was the thought running through his head.

No way around it. Everyone else had moved on. He couldn't really go crazy even if he wanted to.

Then.

Very suddenly. Yet entirely inevitable.

A passage tore open and burst out, the Flash serving as a hamster wheel, the Speed Force as the spear, punching straight through the Source Wall.

Ghost woman Wanda, Black Strange, and the super-mutant Homelander, John.

They appeared.

For now, it was only a projection. Their real bodies were still pinned behind the Source Wall.

But,

"This feeling. This vibe!"

"Those short videos... that photo..."

"It's the world Dad is in!"

"Wuwuwu! Wah!"

John's eyes filled with tears on the spot, like a little kid who'd finally gotten his favorite toy, crying his heart out from sheer emotion.

His body was wrapped in the Anti-Life Equation. His face cracked under the sunlight. Containers strapped to his back fed a constant stream of Compound V into his veins.

He reached out, desperately clawing for a T-shirt hanging in a store.

Because the T-shirt was designed by Azu himself, a photo of Guan Fuyun holding little Azu, with Abomination filling the background.

But obviously, he couldn't grab it.

"Wah! Wuwuwu..."

John cried in frustration, dropping to the ground, kicking his legs and flailing his arms as he sobbed.

Between tears, he dug out his doodles from his backpack. Guan Fuyun. Wanda. Godzilla. The farm.

In temperament: a complete giant baby. A genuine The Boys product.

"You doing okay?"

Apocalypse asked. Then ghost woman Wanda and Black Strange hit him from both sides and locked him down.

At the end of the day, both of them were Marvel natives. Even transplanted into DC, they functioned like dimensional demons, their grip on this reality was far stronger than John's.

"Urghhh —"

Poor Apocalypse. He could arguably be called a sub-Skyfather. Right now, he had zero resistance.

Dark, ancient magical runes coiled around him. His eyes rolled back, dead light bleeding through as the life drained out. He became a puppet.

"We need to determine how powerful the other you, and I — currently are."

Ghost woman Wanda said.

"And this universe still has things worth collecting."

"They can make you stronger."

"More than that, they're your medium for descending into this universe."

Black Strange opened all 3 eyes, his dark eye sockets heavy enough to make your skin crawl. "I have experience destroying multiverses. If we want to succeed, we need to deal with the Time Variance Authority — and deal with Loki, the God of Stories."

"I have a feeling he's already an obstacle."

They had seen this world's beauty with their own eyes.

Their hearts were flooded with desperation to get here. Every single one of them wanted to come ashore right now.

But a meal still has to be eaten one bite at a time.

"Wuwuwu, I know, Dad, wuwuwu!"

"Wait for me!"

"I'll bring Supergirl, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy right over to perform acrobatics and smash rocks on my chest! I'm going to entertain you so well, I swear I'll be a good kid!"

John cried as he hauled himself back to his feet. Ghost woman Wanda and Black Strange quietly erased every trace of their magical presence.

He scrubbed the trio's projections and energy signatures clean from the DC universe.

All of it handled through the Speed Force.

The Speed Force, which ignores all laws of physics and energy science. That's just how broken it is.

Then.

The 3 vanished instantly. No hesitation, no loose ends.

Left behind was only Apocalypse, turned puppet, locked onto his instructions.

"Timeline. God of Stories... obstacle. Deal with him..."

Apocalypse repeated the directive.

And then the bizarre superpowers he had accumulated across thousands of years merged together and fired at once.

A pulse of energy, broadcasting at a unique frequency.

The only one who could receive it.

Was Apocalypse's adoptive father, Kang the Conqueror, master of the Kang Dynasty.

And only Kang the Conqueror.

Had the power to disrupt the timeline and tear down the surveillance net that Loki, the God of Stories, had thrown over everything.

Because Loki had only risen to that throne after He Who Remains kicked the bucket in the first place.

...

"Oh? Something like this actually exists?"

"The old man's company. Mutant actors?"

"666! Now that's interesting."

"Outrageous! An absolute affront to decency!"

Through every means available, archaeology, future-sight, letters, messages, the signal reached them. Kangs from different timelines converged on the Kang Dynasty from every direction.

Masters of the highest technology humanity had ever produced. They roared. They bellowed. A room full of silverback gorillas banging their chests.

"We march. We have to march!"

➤ Next: Timeline War — Everyone's Dark History