History ComicBook / AvengersForever

* ArcWelding: From over ''thirty'' years of Kang and Immortus appearances, tied together to make a (mostly) coherent (if headache inducing) sense, including stuff from ''Comicbook/SilverSurfer'', ''[[Comicbook/TheMightyThor Thor]]'', ''Guardians of the Galaxy'', ''Comicbook/WestCoastAvengers'', ''Comicbook/TheCelestialMadonnaSaga'', ''Operation: Galactic Storm'', and ''The Crossing''.

** A lot of this story is basically damage control for ''ComicBook/TheCrossing'', revealing that it was Immortus and not Kang who was the main villain, that ComicBook/IronMan was only under Immortus's control since the events of ''ComicBook/OperationGalacticStorm'' (and that Iron Man leading half of the Avengers to kill the Kree Supreme Intelligence was an attempt to keep the Avengers out of intergalactic affairs that [[NiceJobFixingItVillain backfired]]) and not since the Avengers first fought Kang, the "[[Characters/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyModern Mantis]]" who worked with "Kang" and many other of his minions were Space Phantoms, and that Kang didn't cause [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym]]'s breakdowns.

** When Libra appears, Jan notes the encounter with someone claiming to be him in ''Force Works''. Libra just says he has no idea what she's talking about.

* BroadStrokes: Despite all the ContinuityPorn on display, there are a few tidbits that can't be spelled out directly. A panel showing Comicbook/DoctorOctopus escaping prison with Comicbook/LexLuthor in tow from ''Comicbook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan'' is mentioned in the annotations as being Doc Ock and a "[[LawyerFriendlyCameo striking-looking bald man]]."

** Exactly how does [[spoiler:future Rick Jones]] end up losing an arm and wearing an outfit that includes Ghost Rider's jacket, Falcon's boots, [[spoiler:Superman's cape, and Batman's utility belt?]] The world may never know.

** 3-D Man quips that unlike a certain ''[[Franchise/{{Superman}} other]]'' superhero popular in the '50s, he can't duck into a phone booth to change identities.

* WorthyOpponent: Kang treats the Avengers as such.

* ArchivedArmy: During the final battle, the Time Keepers summon all evil and destructive Avengers from the past, present and future. Rick Jones reinforces the goods guys by using the Destiny Force to summon ''every other Avenger'' from all the myriad timelines.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/AvengersForever3_2031.jpg]]

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: Hawkeye, Yellowjacket and Songbird see Kang in a separate adventure the Avengers have (from Mel's perspective) already dealt with, where he sets a T-Rex on some of Atlas' western heroes.

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: After a prolonged war with the Martians that has wiped out damn near all of mankind and outright ''all'' of Wakanda, Black Panther wants to go after the Martians and kill them all. But the vibranium supplies are needed to keep Mourning Prey alive, so he acquises.

* ContinuityPorn: Kurt Busiek lets loose with his full knowledge of Avengers lore.

* DeathByIrony: Averted. The Time-Keepers try to give one to Kang: as they can't kill him without creating a temporal paradox (he has to live on to become their servant Immortus, whom they had just killed), they seek to punish him and neutralize him as a threat by speeding up his transformation and turn him into Immortus right there. But they can't, Kang's will is just too strong and he remains Kang.

* DidYouActuallyBelieve: Much of the Space Phantom's reaction in #8 to how he and his kind can't believe the Avengers actually bought so many of the wild stories and plans Immortus pulled off.

* ImposterForgotOneDetail: In the Old West, Hawkeye, Yellowjacket and Songbird meet with the Black Rider, Reno Jones, and Kid Cassidy, who talk on learning of their adventure from telegrams from the Two-Gun Kid, who'd they met earlier. They agree to pool resources, Hawkeye smiling as he shakes Cassidy's hand, noting how "I never thought I'd be meeting the real Kid Cassidy... especially considering by 1873, he was dead!" The Avengers swiftly subdue the "cowboys" who turn out to be the Space Phantoms.

-->'''Space Phantom:''' It's... it's complicated.

* LostAesop: Everything was set in motion because, in the future, humanity may become TheEmpire. As things go on, the Time Keepers become the villains of the story, then they die and everything is right again. But... what about those bad futures? What's preventing them from coming to pass? A mere lecture from Captain America and that's it? At least they could have used the Forever Crystal to erase the "Destiny Force" from the human race.
** Potentially justified as meddling with the timestream in that manner is exactly what the Avengers had just condemned the Time-Keepers for in the first place, and the odds are still in favor of the bad futures ''not'' coming to pass.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Immortus had to make the Avengers return to Earth immediately after "Operation: Galactic Storm", so he influenced the Avengers with xenophobia, so that they refused to stay among alien races. He miscalculated: this xenophobia led them to execute the Supreme Intelligence for destroying its own empire (long story). And worse: this would begin actions that laid the first steps of the Avengers Stellar Corps, the antecedent of the First Terran Empire... the very timeline that Immortus was instructed to prevent!

** Also for Kang. In his place of greatest strength, backed by all his armies, he fights against his most hated enemy, for the highest stakes he could conceive... and loses.

* ScrewDestiny: All this was because the indomitable warrior Kang, as a time traveler, knows that he will eventually become Immortus, a scholar who relies on manipulation and schemes. He hates the idea, fights against the universe to prevent himself from becoming Immortus... and wins.

** The 50s Avengers are based on an old issue of ''What If...?'' that explored a world where the Avengers were founded by 3-D Man and a bunch of Atlas Comics (Marvel's predecessor) characters like Marvel Boy, Gorilla Man, Venus and the Human Robot. A canonical version of this team would later be introduced as the ''Comicbook/AgentsOfAtlas''.

* TheChosenOne: Rick Jones

** One of the glimpses the team gets of Immortus's machinations is him having some part to play in Major Victory meeting Vance Astrovik and diverging their timelines.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: On full display with the 50s Avengers, who are more concerned with the threat of commies and pinkos than, oh, alien infiltration (or worse, ''alien commie pinkos'').

-->'''Space Phantom''': No one caused your breakdowns, Henry Pym. We lied to you. We thought it more convincing to back it up with a lie you wanted to believe.

* ExpendableAlternateUniverse: Averted. The casual destruction of alternate timelines is not just an undesirable thing, it's the very thing that the Avengers are fighting to prevent. Wasp is horrified when she witnesses the destruction of timeline the [[spoiler: 50s Avengers come from]].
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Yellowjacket]]

** TheMcCoy: Hawkeye
** TheKirk: The Wasp
** TheSpock: Libra

** Taken up to eleven with Immortus and Kang, respectively. Here, "Future me is the single being I hate the most in all the multiverse".

* HeelRealization: When [[spoiler: Yellowjacket]] realizes the ultimate plan of the Time-Keepers, he declines his deal with Immortus and silently calls in the cavalry.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: The various characters the Avengers encounter while traveling through the timeline. Of note, Captain America and Giant-Man arrive in Black Panther's future at the tail end of a bloody, years long conflict with Martian invaders. Songbird also notes that she, Yellowjacket and Hawkeye have arrived in Tombstone just in time for a wholly unrelated battle between Kang and some of Marvel's old cowboy heroes like the Rawhide Kid and Kid Colt.

* ImposterForgotOneDetail: In the Old West, Hawkeye, Yellowjacket and Songbird meet with the Black Rider, Reno Jones and Kid Cassidy, who talk on learning of their adventure from telegrams from the Two-Gun Kid, who'd they met earlier. They agree to pool resources, Hawkeye smiling as he shakes Cassidy's hand, noting how "I never thought I'd be meeting the real Kid Cassidy...especially considering by 1873, he was dead!" The Avengers swiftly subdue the "cowboys" who turn out to be the Space Phantoms.
* InSpiteOfANail: The Time-Keepers wanted to prevent the existence of the sons of the Comicbook/ScarletWitch, but Immortus tried to do so without killing anyone. He arranged things that prompted her romance and marriage with Comicbook/TheVision, as he reasoned that she could not have any children if she was married to a machine. But "''Immortus is not infallible, and destiny requires careful handling: it does not like to be thwarted''". Using magic, the Scarlet Witch had sons anyway, so Immortus had to help Comicbook/{{Mephisto}} to vanish them from existence.

-->'''Space Phantom:''' It's...it's complicated.

* LostAesop: Everything was set in motion because, in the future, humanity may become TheEmpire. As things go on, the Time Keepers become the villains of the story, then they die and everything is right again. But...what about those bad futures? What's preventing them from coming to pass? A mere lecture from Captain America and that's it? At least they could have used the Forever Crystal to erase the "Destiny Force" from the human race.

* MeaningfulEcho: Captain Marvel has two big secrets that he's isn't telling: [[spoiler:That he was bound to an older Rick Jones, and that he loves Songbird; but this one was from before that]]. In both cases, he delivers some lines here and there that hint at these things.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Immortus had to make the Avengers return to Earth immediately after "Operation: Galactic Storm", so he influenced the Avengers with xenophobia, so that they refused to stay among alien races. He miscalculated: this xenophobia led them to execute the Supreme Intelligence for destroying its own empire (long story). And worse: this would begin actions that laid the first steps of the Avengers Stellar Corps, the antecedent of the First Terran Empire...the very timeline that Immortus was instructed to prevent!

** Exactly how does [[spoiler:future Rick Jones]] end up losing an arm and wearing an outfit that includes Ghost Rider's jacket, Falcon's boots, [[spoiler:Superman's cape, and Batman's utility belt]]? The world may never know.

** Also for Kang. In his place of greatest strength, backed by all his armies, he fights against his most hated enemy, for the highest stakes he could conceive...and loses.

* ReedRichardsIsUseless: Deconstructed. Someone might wonder, with all the fancy technology available in the Marvel universe, which includes ships capable of going to other galaxies, why does Earth still has the overall technological level of the real world? Answer: because Immortus, GuardianOfTheMultiverse, is arranging things to stay that way until mankind's technology does not outstrip its moral judgments.

** Also retcons the idea that the Space Phantoms were aliens from a planet called Phantus. They're really [[spoiler: anyone who gets stranded in Limbo long enough for their identity to erode away, turning them into identityless shapeshifters.]][[note]]This has since been ''ret-''retconned, and now the Space Phantoms are actually the Dire Wraiths that Comicbook/RomSpaceknight exiled to Limbo. Rom's "Limbo" had previously been said to be a totally separate dimension that shared a name with Immortus's realm, but now they're officially one and the same. Well, DependingOnTheWriter, anyway.[[/note]]
** When Libra appears, Jan notes the encounter with someone claiming to be him in ''Force Works''. Libra just says he's no idea what she's talking about.

* ScrewDestiny: All this was because the indomitable warrior Kang, as a time traveler, knows that he will eventually become Immortus, a scholar who relies on manipulation and schemes. He hates the idea, fights against the universe to prevent himself from becoming Immortus...and wins.

** Shortly thereafter, Yellowjacket notes Songbird suddenly knows an awful lot of specific detail about how Kang's base works, and cold-cocks her. Because it's actually a Space Phantom.

* ThereAreNoCoincidences: Captain America and the future T'Challa note how convenient it is that they're faced with a choice that requires them make a choice between vengeance or helping others. It's part of Immortus's plan.

** After the heroes win, Kang [[HesBack regains his zest for life and conquest]] and leaves to rebuild his empire. This will be followed up in ''ComicBook/TheKangWar''.

Let's try to make it short. Rick Jones suffers a strange paralysis, and the Avengers send him to the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree (who's held "captive" at the Blue Area of the Moon), to see if he could heal him. Immortus tries to kill Rick Jones, but Kang intervenes on his behalf. Rick Jones, with the help of Libra, uses the "Destiny Force" once more, an all-powerful force he once wielded during ComicBook/TheKreeSkrullWar, summons several Avengers from many points of time: [[Comicbook/AntMan Henry Pym]] and Comicbook/TheWasp (from the present), Yellowjacket (Henry Pym when he had a mental disorder; yes, he summoned the same man from 2 time periods), Comicbook/CaptainAmerica (right after the Secret Empire storyline, demoralized by it and on the verge of giving up the superhero thing), Comicbook/{{Hawkeye}} (right after the Kree-Skrull War) & Songbird and [[Comicbook/CaptainMarVell Captain Marvel]] (Genis-Vell) (from two separate future times). The fight moves to Chronopolis, Kang's stronghold: Immortus destroyed it and turned it into the "Forever Crystal", which allows him to change timelines or destroy them at will.

* ThereAreNoCoincidences: Captain America and the future T'Challa note how convinient it is that they're faced with a choice that requires them make a choice between vengeance or helping others. It's part of Immortus's plan.

** A lot of this story is basically damage control for ''ComicBook/TheCrossing'', revealing that it was Immortus and not Kang who was the main villain, that ComicBook/IronMan was only under Immortus's control since the events of ''ComicBook/OperationGalacticStorm'' (and that Iron Man leading half of the Avengers to kill the Kree Supreme Intelligence was an attempt to keep the Avengers out of intergalactic affairs that [[NiceJobFixingItVillain backfired]]) and not since the Avengers first fought Kang, the "Mantis" who worked with "Kang" and many other of his minions were Space Phantoms, and that Kang didn't cause [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym]]'s breakdowns.

** A lot of this story is basically damage control for ''ComicBook/TheCrossing'', revealing that it was Immortus and not Kang who was the main villain, that ComicBook/IronMan was only under Immortus's control since the events of ''ComicBook/OperationGalacticStorm'' (and that Iron Man leading half of the Avengers to kill the Kree Supreme Intelligence was an attempt to keep the Avengers out of intergalactic affairs that [[NiceJobFixingItVillain backfired]]) and not since the Avengers first fought Kang, the "Comicbook/{{Mantis|Marvel Comics}}" who worked with "Kang" and many other of his minions were Space Phantoms, and that Kang didn't cause [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym]]'s breakdowns.

** Also for Kang. In his place of greatest strength, backed by all his armies, he fights against his most hated enemy, for the highest stakes he could conceive... and loses.

* ScrewDestiny: All this was because the indomitable warrior Kang, as a time traveler, knows that he will eventually become Immortus, a scholar who relies on manipulation and schemes. He hates the idea, fights against the universe to prevent himself from becoming Immortus... and wins.

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: In this case, Richard Nixon. He had already been discovered, and the men in black were going to deal with him; but Immortus simply erases the whole timeline as a result. He couldn't risk humanity arming against enemies from the stars.

* ButYouWereThereAndYouAndYou: When Songbird returns to the future, with a vague memory of the Destiny War...she was with the Wasp and Jack of Hearts, and tells the Wasp that "you were there".

** The 50s Avengers are based on an old issue of ''What If...?'' that explored a world where the Avengers were founded by 3-D Man and a bunch of obscure Atlas Comics (Marvel's predecessor) characters like Marvel Boy, Gorilla Man, Venus and the Human Robot. A canonical version of this team would later be introduced as the ''Comicbook/AgentsOfAtlas''.

* ContinuityNod: Plenty, but one of the most important is Rick Jones starting the series paralyzed due to having been injured in Creator/PeterDavid's ''Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk'' run. The Supreme Intelligence is also now imprisoned by Comicbook/{{SHIELD}} on the Blue Area of the Moon as a result of the then-recent ''Live Kree or Die'' crossover.

* DeathByIrony: Averted. The Time-Keepers tried to give one to Kang: as they could not kill him without creating a temporal paradox (he has to live on to become their servant Immortus, whom they had just killed), they sought to punish him and neutralize him as a threat by speeding up his transformation and turning him into Immortus right there. But they couldn't, Kang's will was just too strong and remained being Kang.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Ravonna, and indeed all the inhabitants of Chronopolis, are killed offscreen and then crushed down into the Forever Crystal by Immortus.
* EnemyMine: The way the Avengers fought alongside Kang, Libra and the Supreme Intelligence.

* LetsYouAndHimFight: That old superhero stable comes up with Wasp and Genis meeting the Avengers of the 1950s. 3-D Man overheard Wasp saying that Nixon ''has'' to get to China, and comes to the conclusion the two are filthy Commie spies, and refuses to let Wasp explain what's going on. It's not until Marvel Boy uses his telepathy to read her mind that he learns what's up.

* MeaningfulEcho: Captain Marvel has two big secrets that he's isn't telling: [[spoiler:That he was bound to an older Rick Jones, and that he loves Songbird; but this one was from before that]]. In both cases, he delivers some lines here and there that hinted those things.

* NoodleIncident: Exactly how does [[spoiler:future Rick Jones]] end up losing an arm and wearing an outfit that includes Ghost Rider's jacket, Falcon's boots, [[spoiler:Superman's cape, and Batman's utility belt]]? The world may never know.
** These details are explained as [[spoiler:Rick being subjected to accelerated aging after he temporarily became the host to Death and was later separated from Death by Comicbook/{{Thanos}}]].

** Also for Kang. In his place of greatest strength, backed by all his armies, he fights against his most hated enemy, for the highest stakes he could conceive...and loses.

** A lot of this story was basically damage control for ''ComicBook/TheCrossing'', revealing that it was Immortus and not Kang who was the main villain, that ComicBook/IronMan was only under Immortus's control since the events of ''ComicBook/OperationGalacticStorm'' (and that Iron Man leading half of the Avengers to kill the Kree Supreme Intelligence was an attempt to keep the Avengers out of intergalactic affairs that [[NiceJobFixingItVillain backfired]]) and not since the Avengers first fought Kang, the "Comicbook/{{Mantis|Marvel Comics}}" who worked with "Kang" and many other of his minions were Space Phantoms, and that Kang didn't cause [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym]]'s breakdowns.

* RetGone: The timeline visited by the Wasp and Captain Marvel was erased by Immortus.

* ScrewDestiny: All this was because the indomitable warrior Kang, as a time traveler, knows that he will eventually become Immortus, a scholar who relies on manipulation and schemes. He hates the idea, fights against the universe to prevent himself from becoming Immortus...and wins.

* SpottingTheThread: Hawkeye, Yellowjacket and Songbird have a run in with some Western heroes, and have a nice campfire with them. Then Hawkeye quite suddenly punches one of them, because thanks to his in-depth knowledge of the era, he knows they're dead by that point. It's actually a bunch of Space Phantoms.

Elements of this storyline (namely, time travel and {{continuity porn}}) appear in the 2019 film ''Film/AvengersEndgame''.

Let's try to make it short. Rick Jones suffers a strange paralysis, and the Avengers send him to the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree (who's held "captive" at the Blue Area of the Moon), to see if he could heal him. Immortus tries to kill Rick Jones, but Kang intervenes on his behalf. Rick Jones, with the help of Libra, uses the "Destiny Force" once more, an all-powerful force he once wielded during ComicBook/TheKreeSkrullWar, summons several Avengers from many points of time: Henry Pym and the Wasp (from the present), Yellowjacket (Henry Pym when he had a mental disorder; yes, he summoned the same man from 2 time periods), Captain America (right after the Secret Empire storyline, demoralized by it and on the verge of giving up the superhero thing), Hawkeye (right after the Kree-Skrull War) & Songbird and Captain Marvel (from two separate future times). The fight moves to Chronopolis, Kang's stronghold: Immortus destroyed it and turned it into the "Forever Crystal", which allows him to change timelines or destroy them at will.

** Also, the one visited by Giant Man and Captain America, the "Literature/WarOfTheWorlds" previously associated with Comicbook/{{Killraven}} and the Comicbook/Guardians OfTheGalaxy.

* ArcWelding: From over ''thirty'' years of Kang and Immortus appearances, tied together to make a (mostly) coherent (if headache inducing) sense, including stuff from ''Silver Surfer'', ''Thor'', ''Guardians of the Galaxy'', ''West Coast Avengers'', ''The Celestial Madonna Saga'', ''Operation: Galactic Storm'', and ''The Crossing''.

** Also, the one visited by Giant Man and Captain America, the "Literature/WarOfTheWorlds" previously associated with Comicbook/{{Killraven}} and the ''Guardians of the Galaxy''.

* InSpiteOfANail: The Time-Keepers wanted to prevent the existence of the sons of the Scarlet Witch, but Immortus tried to do so without killing anyone. He arranged things that prompted her romance and marriage with the Vision, as he reasoned that she could not have any children if she was married to a machine. But "''Immortus is not infallible, and destiny requires careful handling: it does not like to be thwarted''". Using magic, the Scarlet Witch had sons anyway, so Immortus had to help Mephisto to vanish them from existence.

** Also, the one visited by Giant Man and Captain America, the "War of the Worlds" previously associated with Comicbook/{{Killraven}} and the ''Guardians of the Galaxy''.

** Black Panther's future Avengers include the former supervillain Crimson Dynamo.

* CallBack: In ''[[ComicBook/{{Maestro}} Future Imperfect]]'', [[spoiler:a much older version of Rick Jones]] maintains a memorial room featuring the costumes, gadgets and weapons of the many heroes and villains who died in the [[WorldWarIII nuclear holocaust]] that wiped out most of humanity. Here, a less aged version of the same character wears an outfit made up from parts of other heroes, including Comicbook/GhostRider's jacket, Comicbook/DoctorStrange's Eye of Agamotto and Comicbook/TheFalcon's boots.
* CallBack: The 50s Avengers are based on an old issue of ''What If...?'' that explored a world where the Avengers were founded by 3-D Man and a bunch of obscure Atlas Comics (Marvel's predecessor) characters like Marvel Boy, Gorilla Man, Venus and the Human Robot. A canonical version of this team would later be introduced as the ''Comicbook/AgentsOfAtlas''.