The First Of Probably Many Cosmic-Themed Posts

Sometime around when Thanos Imperative was winding up, I got the idea to do some big post that would draw a thematic line through Marvel's cosmic events of the last few years. It seemed like, with Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy canceled, Cosmic Marvel was down to just Thanos Imperative, and so it was probably the grand end. I'm still not convinced it isn't, since I'm not sure Annihilators is going to qualify as an "event" comic.

Obviously, that post hasn't materialized, for a variety of reasons. One of which is I haven't felt like I've put all my thoughts together. The other is, there seem to be enough thoughts one post would be too big. So I'm going to try doing smaller posts, hopefully dealing with different ideas, and once I've done that, maybe I can do a summary post somewhere down the line. Hope springs eternal.

The reason I even thought about trying it was because I felt the threats of Annihilation and Thanos Imperative served as mirrors of each other. With Annihilation, the natural expansion of the Marvel Universe is taken as a threat by Annihilus (or used as an excuse to rally his followers), and he proceeds to invade the Marvel Universe, intent on killing everything. With Thanos Imperative, it's another universe encroaching on the Marvel Universe, trying to eliminate death.

The first story was started by a natural event - universal expansion - and had the villain succeeded would have resulted in an empty, lifeless universe, save for Annihilus. The latter story was propelled by an unnatural event - the obliteration of death - and, if Mar-Vell had succeeded, would have meant the universe would have been stuffed full of life, until it, like the Cancerverse, was to the point of bursting. Which doesn't sound so bad, except there won't be room to move, or enough resources to go around, but people won't be able to die, so, in theory, they'd suffer endlessly*.

It's like two of the theories for the universe. One theory says everything slowly breaks down, and eventually all that's left is a vast space, empty save for a few stray particles that either can't break down any further, or haven't yet. The other says the universe will eventually collapse in on itself, then there'll be another expansion, and things will start over**. But they prove the point Maelstrom made to Drax and Phyla once: Whether it's life that's too strong or death, it leads to a bad end, either way. Only difference is the particulars.

There are other mirroring aspects. In each case, Thanos played a key role, first helping Annihilus, then appearing to submit to Mar-Vell. But in each case, it was Thanos' tendency towards treachery that turned things. He had a failsafe to release Galactus, and his submission was just a way for Death to get close enough to Mar-Vell to destroy him. Also, the three heroes who went to confront Annihilus (Nova, Star-Lord, Phyla-Vell) and survived, all appear to have died at Thanos' hands. Phyla died before Thanos Imperative officially kicked off, but it was what announced his return to the field, so I think it can count. So when they fought against death, they lived. When they were fighting against Life, they ended up dead (or presumed dead). Killed by the Avatar of Death, no less.

I'm still trying to work out how Conquest and War of Kings fit in. Once I do, I'll be able to talk a little more about them. This is just the stuff I've sorted out so far.

* The way Sepulveda drew the Cancerverse doesn't really back up that assertion, since it appeared to be a barren, rotting universe, without many people. Then again, maybe everything was on the front lines, trying to pour out through the Fault into the new universe, like those Sooners trying to get into the opened frontier.

** I got that idea because I remembered Mightygodking described a Legion story where they fought the Time Trapper that was essentially that debate, as a superhero fight.