Introduction

    This a Universe wherein time runs parallel to the legendary Marvel Universe created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. Certain events and timelines resemble the original but like many concurrent string universes there are significant differences.
    The name Para-Timely comes from the prefix, para, which can mean near or beyond, and the company that was the original home to the Golden Age Marvel heroes, Timely. If this all seems semi-familiar to any given comic book fan that's because I based this idea on D.C.'s Tangent Comics which took familiar D.C. icons and "tweaked" them. I suppose the Ultimate line from Marvel is similar to this.
    Anyway! Enjoy, Marvelite!

Earth's history entire up until 1883

    The Para-Timely Earth has a history similar to both the Marvel Universe, upon which it based, and our universe yet there are also many differences. Since it is presupposed that there are an infinite number of parallel dimensions the Para-Timely Universe can easily be "out there" somewhere maybe just beyond the universe of the Avenger's rivals the Squadron Supreme or even somewhere "close" to the Human Torch's Fifth Dimension. That is, of course, if such analogies even apply to the almost incomprehensible concept of parallel dimensions.
    Superhuman/ extraordinary phenomenon are slightly rarer in this parallel probability than in the Marvel Universe proper. A greater amount of knowledge rests with the government(s) of the world and secret societies, cabals and multi-national corporations hold the greatest sway. The Great Depression, for instance, did not make quite the impact it did in this universe in comparison to ours. Also, there was a nuclear exchange between Russia and the United States of America in the early 1970's: World War III.
    Let's go through some of the interesting facts about this alternate universe.
    For example the Kree Empire wiped itself out in it's formative stages. Thus, Sentry 459 was never placed on Earth. The Kree's enemies in the original Marvel Universe, the Skrulls, are also completely different from the Marvel counterparts. The Celestials are of a different nature in this universe too, being a race of archivists and only that. Other types of "celestial" and supernatural beings do exist, but the most powerful and transcendent ones tend to remain hidden due to the fact that most "lesser" beings cannot even perceive them.
    Strange and arcane events, ancient beings and places: the existence of Elysium- a "nearby" parallel universe that has been contermittant with Earth's past, it's grandeur is the source of many of Earth's myths and legends of heroes deities and fantastic adventures. Elysium's "Uranian" folk and various inhabitants have visited Earth bringing a sense of unpredictable, indefinable magic to this world, but only to those who have seen or known of their existence.  There is a race of chthonic elder Earth spawn who sleep in the depths of Umar the World Below. Meanwhile, alien energy beings, the Cotati keep watch over the star lanes unbeknownst and incomprehensible to humanity while in his nether dimensional kingdom demonic Gorgon ever looks for souls to steal and devour.
    There are also several goddess (for want of a better term because many beings of near omnipotence have transcended the concept of male/female) who have held an uneasy watch over the Earth; merged with it, untraceable by most human arts and sciences. They are part of that loose "pantheon" of Elder Gods from Earth's past and though most of these beings aren't truly malevolent most wise folk keep away from them for fear of stirring terrible forces. Even the vaguely benevolent "Earth mother" called Agammon is best left be.

Still dwelling far-off yet watching all that transpires (what the near omnipotent "cosmic" and extra dimensional beings tend to do) are the Children of C'thulhu, the Spawn of Zzutak, Yog-Sothoth and other Pre Elemental beings. These "deities" are entirely malevolent with motives unfathomable but for the foulness of their nature. Evolved cold-blooded creature beneath the Earth and in other concurrent dimensions still pay homage to these ultra demonic beings, waiting to plunge the surface world and the cosmos themselves into darkness and utter decay.
Yet, there are those who ever stand against these forces of evil and it has been thus for eons untold!
There are other beings barely classifiable, such as the sea dwelling Triton whose nature remains unknown. Underground is Ajak a dweller in Umar the World Below who is said to have collected all things from the past, Dormammu the last survivor of an ancient dinosaurian race, and then there's legendary Banshee who wanders the underground wastelands.

    Ultimately there are beings, phenomenon and occurrences that can not even be hinted at here.
    Various conditions, both "scientific and supernatural", keep all of this from human history for the most part and the few heroes that have emerged are lost to time and legend, even those undying wanderers the Foreigners are just that, legends.
    This all leads us to...

1899

    The tales of the Undead are fearfully true. This is a year of strange occurrences and escalated international crime. A British student decides to put the unique skills he gained while trapped in the mountains of Tibet to good use. He had been found by a group of monks after a mountaineering accident that claimed his father's life. Through arcane tests they had judged John worthy so he was initiated into the most esoteric martial arts and mystical secrets in the world. A few years later and back in England, John Falsworth decides to combat crime by donning the mask and mantle of the Black Llama!

1914, October

    Few can deny that the first world war caused immeasurable suffering. To add to the horror, there are reports from the hinterlands of the Massif Central in France of the "loup-garoux": the Werewolf. After soldiers, from both sides, began disappearing as well as local folk, the Black Llama (who as John Falsworth is enlisted in the British army) decided to investigate. The werewolves are never reported again in that area, but for that matter neither the Black Llama nor John Falsworth are ever seen again. Several writers of the time make the connection between the two names though the information is not widely published.

1916, February

    The world's most supernaturally aware mystics and men and women of knowledge the world over monitor a tremendous spike in the Van Allen Belt and dangerous energy anomalies surrounding the Earth on the week of February 9th. Few humans except for such as the Ancient Ones who mostly dwell in underground Umar, the oriental sorceress Madame Masque and the ancient mystic Kang have any knowledge of the reason for this: a massive Cotati/ N'garai battle in a hyper spatial portal close to Earth. A young Nikola Tesla suspects something of a phenomenal nature from his observations, as do Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Alesteir Crowley, Professor John Modoc and few other brilliant human beings. Only the most arcane writings of the era refer to this occurrence. Meanwhile strange beings that live beyond the veil of space/ time, entities unknowable... watch. The world is changing.

1917, August

    Quantum Gem Wielder #6, Karnak of Betelgeuse hurtles to Earth trapped beyond all rescue in a kilometer wide mass of cometary matter after a massive battle with an unknown entity. Using all of his available willpower and strength he causes the object to crash in a remote, uninhabited area on Earth. At Karnak's demise, his Gem of Power, the Moonstone- one of only seven in the known universe- is hurled into the Earth. Meanwhile the comet has flattened thousands of square miles of forest in the Siberian wilderness known as Tunguska.

1926, December

    George "Thunderbolt" Ross, a Kansas City based private investigator, looks into a series of murders in the area and within a week of research discovers a string of cross-country murders that he found, through dangerous investigations and encounters with murderous occult groups, to have started in Europe. In his investigations Ross begins to suspect something of an unusual nature so he has "special equipment" created just for this case.

1927, January

    His trail having led to the discovery of the lair of the "slasher" in a remote wood in Vermont, George Ross confronts the hermit-like suspect, who turns out to be Brian Falsworth, the Black Llama. Ross wants to help the famed hero out of his apparent state of insanity but in a fit of excitement Falsworth transforms into the Loup-Garoux! Ross is forced to kill him with a hail of blessed silver bullets. As Falsworth's cabin burns behind him, Ross vows to use his new-found knowledge to combat the arcane malevolent entities that threaten good men as Thunderbolt Ross, Devil Slayer!

1931

Magneto, "The Master of Magnetics", emerges in New York City. "Magnetics" refers only to a gimmicky weapon that he wielded because Magneto had many other abilities beyond his famous weapon. Despite being a non super-powered human being, he was a self-made superman, holder of nine Doctorates, master of tae kwan-do, jujitsu, shao-lin kung fu, karate, Muay Thai kick-boxing, fencing, astronomy, strategy, robotics, weightlifting, carpentry, electricity, hypnotism, rock climbing, archery, painting, gymnastics and falconry, Magneto began his war on crime and corruption in New York's Baxter Building with his enormous crime lab and inheritance gained and patent fueled funding.

In 1933, Magneto acquired a group of four specialists and old friends to aid in the fight against crime: the Mad Thinker, the She-Hulk, Shang-Chi and the Brute. He ended-up marrying the She-Hulk- "World's Strongest Woman"- (otherwise named Greer Nelson) in 1939. They had two children, who to this day are both missing having disappeared in 1944.     Magneto's career spanned two decades: he disappeared combating some monstrous threat in a cave in near Dallas, Texas in 1947. Government archives of his disappearance have been marked EYES ONLY: SUBJECT TO TERMINATION. All his assistants have died or are missing.

1942

    As World War II rages across the planet and the United States of America becomes involved Magneto and his associates do their part. When the governments of Germany and Italy join forces to instigate the occult "Midnight Sons" program, the allies race to create the multinational covert defense and espionage force known as J.U.S.T.I.C.E. (Judiciary Unified Security Teams for Investigation of Crises Extraordinary) to combat the super-science and supernatural menace of The Midnight Sons. Among J.U.S.T.I.C.E.'s many branches are a team of "super-heroes", the Squadron Supreme. It's members are Magneto, the She-Hulk, Shang-Chi, the Thinker, the patriotic Defender, and Mentor, an alien. The Brute was sadly killed at the beginning of WW II. Both the Mad Thinker and Mentor are later killed in 1943 and 1944 respectively with the body of Mentor "disappearing" shortly thereafter.

1947

    In the advent of the H-Bomb and with the beginning of the Cold War, a governmental think tank with it's "finger in all the pies", Firebird, begins operations. It is a covert international intelligence agency of dubious and fearful nature, backed by the most powerful governments and corporations on the planet, possibly with members from the U.S.S.R. as well!
    Part of it's directive is the observation of "human mutations", "non human sentients" and "inhumans" and the "containment" of such. The Grand Director of Firebird, Paul Destine keeps tabs on "kill zones" involving some of the more unseemly and arcane activities of the U.S. Government. Firebird is also given control of J.U.S.T.I.C.E., much to the chagrin of that organization and it's director, Clint Barton, formerly known as the Defender.

1967, August

    Dr. Stephen Strange, a brilliant research scientist originally employed by the Nazi Regime in the Second World War develops an upgraded form of the Super-Soldier, a failed Nazi experiment to create "the perfect warrior". Since Dr. Strange works for the United States Military this new "super-soldier", code-named War Machine, is to aid in the swift and bloody end of the ongoing Vietnam War. Using his research, stolen notes from other scientists and  parts of the alien body of the World War II hero Mentor, Strange begins implementing the War Machine Project.
    From their enclave, two other scientists watch the development of the War Machine Project and work on a more perfect version on what Dr. Strange is creating. They are confident in the fact that he works from their stolen papers; they know that Strange's notes are incomplete plus he lacks crucial specimen from the body of Mentor. They anticipate the future failure of the WarMachine Project, yet the outcome matters little to the two hermit scientists. In their mutual arrogance, the two strange men have turned away from the world refusing to serve anybody except Science itself.
 
1967, September

    An anonymous corporal is vivisected and his body parts are merged with an organic/ machine computer and weapon's systems interface, all paid for by the U.S. Government thanks to a large endowment from multi-national Parker Corporation. His hybrid body and mind are put through rigorous tests and treatments and at the end of those long months, and a deconditioning regime that has turned him into a virtual assassin, Glenn Talbot is sent on his first mission. For a few months the now inhuman Corporal Talbot, code-named War Machine, conducts successful forays into Viet-Cong territory, securing the future victory for America. Then in December of 1967, he seemingly goes berserk killing a platoon of so-called deserters on the Me-Kong River. Constantly aware of the situation and Talbot's murderous training, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. Director Clint Barton, now a very healthy 55, goes after War Machine himself, loaded with an arsenal of the latest "super-spy" weapons. Barton stops Glenn Talbot by killing him but with a price: Clint Barton's legs are shattered and the Director is confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

1973, March 23-24

    The dark day is upon Earth: World War 3. Fueled by corporate war, the Mideast Oil Embargo escalates into multi-national confusion. Several organizations with hidden agendas that have always pulled the strings of government, decide that this is day "Omega Red". In the chaos of shattered diplomacy, somewhere, a hand depresses an all-powerful button, and across the world, another hand responds. The silos spit out their unimaginable horrors but in mid exchange, what can only be described by people everywhere as a miracle occurs. Almost all of the warhead's payloads cease to function and a worldwide power black-out occurs for exactly 24 hours and 9 minutes! An explanation has yet to be found for this mysterious phenomenon.
    Never the less a terrible price was still paid for the exchange- a handful nuclear missiles had made it through whatever stopped the missiles. The areas destroyed were as follows: Dallas, Leningrad, most of the Baja Peninsula with California suffering massive earthquakes, areas around the Sandwich Islands in the Pacific, parts of the Atlas Mountains, parts of Montana, most of the lower Caribbean, and all of Hawaii.
    Scrambling to their senses after the black-out, world leaders agreed to a unilateral cease-fire and immediate dismantling of all nuclear warheads. March 24 was declared as Alpha Day across the planet Earth, the Day of Renewal, or even Day of the Miracle when all weapons of destruction would not function. With the history of life on Earth permanently altered the long process of rebuilding begins.

1989, August

    Dr. William Baker is an oceanographer working for the environmental protection unit of Hydro-Lab, the multi-national agency that is slowly cleaning-up and reinvigorating the polluted and radioactive seas of the world. One of the dangers Hydo-Lab personnel encounter are the very active pirates that make a living on the various radioactive frontiers. Baker had found out first-hand about these criminals and in escaping the burning of his research vessel, he discovered a strange object lodged in the Puerto Rican Trench: a massive alien vehicle! Entering the vessel, he quickly turns his scientific prowess towards mastering it's alien science, subsequently using it's wonders to capture the local pirates and bring them to justice.
    Baker is then given charge of researching the craft and utilizing it's highly advanced scientific marvels to further the cause of Hydro-Lab. A team of the best marine scientists and experts in the world are hired to work  under him, these men and women are soon to be nicknamed "The Sub-Mariners"; subsequently and much to his chagrin, Dr. William Baker is unofficially dubbed "Hydro-Man". They now comb and patrol the oceans in the incredible unearthly vessel that becomes known as "The Incredible Hulk".

1992, February

    The Coming of the Dark Rider! Along the edges of North America's civilization emerges a legend from the dim past. It has been told of a Dark Rider who rode a black stallion that galloped on the air fire coming from it's hooves and justice in the Rider's eyes. Spotted throughout the west coast is his modern counterpart, a jet-black rider on a roaring, supernaturally fast motorcycle. Mayhem and vengeance follow this strange figure and none can guess his motives, for his name is part of a lost Native American legend: a Dark Rider who has the forces of the spirit world at his command and seeks vengeance on all who prey on the innocent!
    Later, in 1993, criminals begin to see a figure at the Dark Rider's side, a shadowy woman named Midnight: her wrath as terrible as the Rider's! The criminals and bandits of the western United States, particularly the Los Angeles Basin where the the Rider originates, feel the cold dread of the desert wind as they make their forays into civilization to prey on the helpless because "At Sundown Comes... The Dark Rider!".

1992, April

    Denver is nearly destroyed by a cadre of genetically bred "inhumans". The world looks on in horror as thousands die; those who watching include a lab technician working off the coast of Scotland, a crippled and embittered young girl, an average family man, a strange woman from another dimension, an American geology student in Russia, a brooding millionaire film-maker, and an orphan and his kindly sage of a benefactor. The word is now out of the extremely dangerous work governmental scientists from America, and around the world have been conducting with genetic experimentation. This causes massive disruptions and riots through-out the world, and brutal crackdowns from corporate security groups. Martial law is imposed in many areas of the world.
    Colonel Matt Murdock, Special Forces Commander for the Champions, the elite U.S. Military Unit primarily responsible for the quelling of the Crisis in Denver appeals to the U.S. Government but is told to keep quiet or else face terrible reprisal. He is also told to reply "no comment" to reports of a mysterious phantom like figure that was instrumental in securing the city: the Dark Rider. Colonel Murdock seethes at all this, and wonders if anything can be done about the level of government corruption and growing political fascism at this point. Murdock receives communiqués from others within the Government who are fighting the graft but is told that the damage to the American Republic is severe. Hope seems to be a precious commodity as he makes an appeal to the now bureaucratically entangled J.U.S.T.I.C.E., but the Director Clint Barton, now nearing the end of his life and sickly, can do nothing, for J.U.S.T.I.C.E.'s authority is reduced to a mere shadow of it's former scope.
    It is a dark time for the world.

1993, March

    The villainous Professor X is on the loose! He escapes imprisonment and emerges every now and then over the next few years spreading terror and death, always slowly working toward his terrible goal: the death of 99% of mankind and the enslavement of the rest- a twisted Machiavellian plan to save the planet. Six years later, his nemesis and ex-student, a man who is to be called the Greatest Hero of All Time, succeeds in finally shutting down the Professor's globe spanning operations.

1995, April

    On Easter Sunday he appears from out of the desert in Arabia's Central Neutral Zone, literally trudging on foot to the Holy City of Jerusalem to the west. His pronouncements cause great alarm and the powers he exhibits cause greater fear, for the Watcher holds strange and terrible prophecies for the world. He disappears as suddenly as he came leaving a few to wonder about the words he spoke, and many to pray for answers and sanctuary. What is the meaning of this legendary being's appearance at this pivotal time in history?

1996, September
	A geophysicist, Dane Whitman is on the run from bandits in the vast of hills of Siberia. His fellow scientists are dead, and the savage criminals who are after the strange artifact he has already tossed into a hidden cave are closing in. Running after his archeological find, he stumbles and falls 59 feet straight down.     Legs shattered in the fall, Whitman stares up the tunnel at the beautiful tree ringed moon, half unconscious. He sees a glimmer to his side and as he sees this vision, he grasps the lost Moonstone that he had hurled into the cave earlier that night. His mind suddenly floods with images and information!
He learns of the Eternals and their universal mission of galactic justice; in an instant a great surge of awareness runs through him. So he is judged... worthy! The gem embeds itself in his body, healing him and granting him great power. He summons his costume, his uniform for his mission as one of the Seven Protectors of the Galaxy and Keepers of the Gems of Power. He has now become the wielder of the Moonstone, the Light Against Evil's Darkness: the Moon Knight!

1997, July

    There's a blank spot in Jim Arkon's memories, the Chicago based private investigator can only remember so far back and then: nothing. This would be alarming but natural for a victim of amnesia, except for the fact that Arkon can remember back some 50 years, and he hasn't aged since! One day this month, Jim's secretary is instructed to allow a "Countess Magdalene" into his windowless office. The lady visits, enters Mr. Arkon's office and Arkon's typist doesn't see her boss for 5 days afterwards: as if he had disappeared off the face of the earth. When Arkon returns he seems... different, and the first case he takes, the investigation of a bizarre occult serial murder, is far from the usual custody and corporate fraud cases they usually handled. Mr. Arkon doesn't tell her what happened that week but let's her know that he will be dealing with crimes and events of a bizarre nature now as Arkon Occult Investigator! Intrigued, Whitney Frost decides to keep her job.

1997, September

    A murderous bacterial experiment escapes from corrupt corporate labs on the East Coast and is stopped and contained by a blur on all radars, video cameras and expensive imaging devices. This is the advent of The World's Fastest Man, Vector! Catch him if you can!

1997, October

A strange man lives in New Orleans named Dr. Victor. He has so for years. A collector of books and antiquities, few had made it past his front lobby before being politely asked to leave and none have seen his face. But on Halloween Day, 1997, Dr. Victor Von Doom must confront a mystical menace that rises up from a 100,000 year slumber, the Chthonic demon, Zzuttak, and defeat it.
Doom was an American seminary student whose family originated in Rudyarda, a small European nation located near the Netherlands.
His father sent him to America to study and Doom has been looking for his kin ever since. His faith slowly waned and as he spent time in the Himalayans on mission, a terrible avalanche destroyed the village he and his fellow missionaries were stationed in. Only Doom survived. Crawling through the snow, cursing man and God, Victor Von Doom was saved by Kang the Ancient and taught the ways of magic, restoring his faith in mankind and God. Thus his innate mystic powers and interest in demonology have been turned to protect the innocents of the world. Upon learning the secrets of the Universe from Kang, he is granted the title and power of Earth's Sorcerer Supreme: Doctor Doom!

1998, March

    She appears out of the skies this month, physically guiding a crippled 767 airliner to safety! She flies away but very soon all know of the mysterious and collosal powers of Titania the Mighty! With unimaginable powers, she begins a one-woman (she's actually a goddess) war on evil.

1998, November

    A cadre of assassins had killed the family of Frankie Raye some 10 years ago and left her crippled, unable to walk for the rest of her life or so said the doctors. For now on this blustery November day, she emerges from the shadows, as will be her habit from now on. Through ten years of intense training and sheer willpower she has not only regained the use of her legs and arm but has transformed her body into the perfect fighting machine. Also, somehow, and inexplicably, her body tissues are now denser than normal, her agility and reaction time are greater than any Olympic athlete, and her strength superhuman! In defeating her families' killers on this day, Frankie raye learns that they were hired by a secret branch of the American Government. For what reason? How can the country she loved and trusted do such a thing? To celebrate the spirit of freedom in the common folk of the U.S.A., and to be a symbol of the fight against government corruption, she becomes Miss America, the Star Spangled Sentinel!

1999, January

	On this blustery January day, Mike Stone faces another shift at his dangerous and thankless job at the Muir Island Biocontainment Center off the coast of Scotland. Little does he know that the Center was being targeted by terrorists seeking to obtain a mysterious strain of virus being held at the Island. Everything goes wrong, and the Center is annihilated in the explosion, but miraculously Stone survives. In fact he does more than that, his genius level intelligence is boosted to extreme heights and he finds his body to contain almost immeasurable power! He has become mightier than a battleship, faster than a rocket and harder than diamond: Mike Stone is now the most powerful being on the planet! Mike knows that somehow it is the alien virus that did this to him.        After spending a week in reflection on a remote crag in Scotland, observing humanity with his telemetry vision and listening to the
crystal clear voice of his new-found hyper intelligence Mike Stone walks down from the mountain and books passage back to his original home, New York City. On board ship, he hears of reports that lead him to deduce where the location of the people who planned the raid on Muir Island are.
In an epiphany of ethical thought, Stone creates a costume to frame his now incredibly mighty form, a costume that creates a visage inspiring awe in innocent people and fear in evildoers. There is a lessening of the profound sense of detachment Mike Stone has felt since his transformation as he brings the killers to justice. Mike realizes that a controlled application of his enormous powers can help all mankind and give him a purpose beyond the personal scientific research he had been mapping out in his mind.     Before he resurfaces in civilization, Mike flies to the most remote area of the Andes Mountains in South America and single-handedly carves the most secure automated research facility and anti-crime and terrorism laboratory on Earth out of a cylindrical mountain peak naming it The Tower of Vision. Afterwards, he goes back home to New York in order to renew his previous life despite a two week's disappearance.
Mike Stone would never be the same though, nor would the rest of humanity, for in secret he has become more than human, the Universal Man and the Mightiest Hero of Al Timel: the Invincible Power Man!

1999, early February

    Prof. John Modoc, a man who has artificially extended his life-span to the age of 159 is finally dying. One of the world's foremost bioregerative tissue experts has been working on the same thing for 28 years, an artificial man that he plans to sell to the highest bidder as a weapon of war, a variation on the War Machine used in the Vietnam War. This is to be a synthezoid, a laboratory created being that will be the ultimate indestructible warrior: a "super-soldier", but Modoc has other plans. He has decided to not sell the creature but to place his brain into it's body thus granting him immortality.
    His partner, the equally aged Dr. Lemuel Dorcas, learns of his plan and desiring to stop Modoc, who he knows to have become insane over the years, tells all to his adoptive son, Manuel Costa. This young man, who is dying of lung cancer, agrees to help out, only to find that Modoc plans to transfer his brain into the body of the sythezoid that very evening. Dr. Dorcas asks Costa an important question: would he be willing to undergo a fantastic and dangerous experiment to possibly cure him of his cancer? Manuel Costa agrees and his brain is transplanted into the artificial body by Dorcas. Waking to see Modoc shooting Dorcas, Manuel goes berserk and kills Modoc in a fit of rage. With his dying breath Dorcas makes Costa stop his destructive rampage within the laboratory and vow to use his powers to help mankind against those who would selfishly wield scientific power. Thus Manuel Costa sets-up "shop" in the remote valley of Symarkia in the Pyrenees Mountains between Spain and France, using his awesome synthetic powers and technological arsenal to battle evil as the Tomorrow Man!

1999, late February     Emerging out of nowhere, she's an enigma to those few who actually see her. Throughtout Great Britain and the United States serial pathological killers, rapists and murderers of all types start appearing in public... dead! White as sheets are their twisted faces and always nearby the phenomenae of a lovely spectre is witnessed. She is like a beautiful phantom: a Vision! But for those who practice evil, murder and deception hers is a terrible wrath from beyond.

1999, early March

Tony Stark is a man who's finally seen the light at the end of his tunnel. A young micro-biologist, he isolates a multi-level vaccine for a myriad of life's ills and makes millions. All this was exactly one year ago, but today Tony's fiancee lays injured and he is held at gun-point by Hank Pym, known to international gangsters as "Tarantula". Pym, a twisted genius, decides he could create the formula on his own with the raw materials and few notes that he has stolen and Tony Stark is thrown down a mining shaft and the laboratory is set afire. The shaft Stark was thrown into contained chemical waste of a terrible and volatile nature: a toxic biochemical stew. There was little chance of his survival, yet somehow Tony Stark does survive... at a horrible cost!

Ten hours later, a coal-black, misshapen hulk crawls from the shaft into the rubble, a titanic mockery of man who is to be called X, the Creature That Shouldn't Exist! With vengeance is on his mind, the now monstrous and tragically transformed Tony Stark soon learns that his fiancee, Heather Douglas had escaped and is alive. Still retaining the mind and heart of a good man, yet physically and emotionally scarred, X haunts the wilds of America's Appalachia, wandering a World He Never Made!

1999, late March

    In a unilateral appeal for a more ethical system of worldwide emergency response and a greater ability to help the "heroic" superhumans counter the various super-powered menaces of the world, Clint Barton succeeds in his long-going international lawsuit against the "think tank" Firebird. In a sweeping decision by the United Nations Council on Justice, J.U.S.T.I.C.E's status as the premier Worldwide agency in the battle against extreme menaces is reinstated. In addition to this, J.U.S.T.I.C.E, is given command of the crack military unit the Champions. Firebird is officially dissolved as an organization, at least on paper. The aged Clint Barton finally retires and hands directorship of J.U.S.T.I.C.E over to ex-Champions Field Commander, Colonel Matt Murdock.
    Elsewhere, the men formerly in charge of Firebird vow to crush those that brought about these decisions. More so, their masters- they who conspire for and control the heirarchy of world domination: men of power, wealth and influence- watch and plan. The supernatural and ultra-scientific forces that they cause to stir come to the attention of the Sorceror Supreme. Feeling grave concern Doctor Doom begins a series of austerities to commune with the powers that counter the malevolent entities who interact with these wealthy and powerful world controllers: the Brotherhood.
    As the pieces move into place...

1999, April     The entire planet is at stake... again! Within hours a threat comes into being that makes World War 3 look pale in comparison; in fact this massive terror is directly related to those dark times in 1973. Panic, looting and chaos erupts as all telecommuni- cations,
transportation and even electricity goes down on a planet-wide scale.
Millions die within hours of the global crisis and then... enter the Invaders with their terrible dark overlords commanding the host. To worsen matters, there are hints that these aliens were "invited" to Earth by an enclave of evil wealthy men- the Brotherhood- intent on ruling and punishing a "surly" human race! Thus...     There came a day when Earth's Greatest Challenge lay moments ahead. This terrible force manifesting itself in semi-human form threatened all of humanity, the Earth, even the the solar system itself. All but few knew of the forces behind the impending doom, but from Beyond the Gods and Immortals whispered of the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy for redemption: The Advent of the Seven! As knowledge on Earth spread of global disaster and panic ensued, a beacon shone forth in the night as a unity of the world's greatest champions!     Moon Knight! Miss America! Power Man! The Tomorrow Man! Titania! Vector! The Dark Rider! With the threat came a battle and they prevailed as the planet breathed a sigh of relief. The world would never again be the same for this is the coming of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the Sentinels!