Could one of you guys catch me up on the Marvel Universe?

[haws bah gawd 0]

Ok everyone, like the title says, I've been out of comics for a long time. The last major story I kept-up with was "The Twelve" from the X-Men comics. Could any of you answer a few questions so I can get my bearings straight again?

 

1. What's the deal with Spiderman's Iron Man armor?

 

2. Apocalypse is back (I lost my interest in comics when they killed-off my favorite villian at the close of The Twelve) and Gambit and Sunfire have voluntarily become Horsemen. Who are his other Horsemen, and what is the purpose of his return?

 

3. Who is the current end-all, be-all most powerful being in all of the Marvel Universe? I would assume it is still The Living Tribunal since it is the closest thing to God that I have seen come out of Marvel, and the only being who I don't remember backing-down from the Infinity Gauntlet.

 

4. Speaking of the Infinity Gauntlet, what is the current most powerful weapon in all of the Marvel Universe? The way I understand it, when the Infinity Gems were seperated, The Living Tribunal decreed that the Gems would never again work when brought together, and would only work seperately. That leaves the Ultimate Nullifier as the most powerful weapon?

 

5. Who is the current overall most powerful mutant? From what I have read about the House of M, and a few other stories, it seems Scarlett Witch is the most powerful non-enhanced mutant. I would guess Dark Phoenix would rank as the all-time most powerful enhanced mutant?

 

6. I understand Eddie Brock apparently commited suicide, and the symbiote joined with Scorpion of all people. Does Mac Gargan wear the Scorpion suit, in addition to the symbiote?

 

If I can think of any other questions, I will add them. Thanks in advance for taking the time to catch me up.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

The One Above All (not the leader of the Celestials) is supposedly "above" the Living Tribunal, and has never been seen.

 

God bless Wikipedia. I can't really answer any of the other questions though, as I'm more of a DC guy.

[Golgo 13 0]

Partial answers. Others can correct and add on.

 

1. His armor was given to him by Stark before or at the beginning of the Civil War storyline, during which Spider-Man plays a major part as a middle man, as he's torn between Pro-Registration (Iron Man) and Anti (Captain America).

 

Culled from Wikipedia...

 

2. Apocalypse was revived during the House of M fallout, as a result of being accidentally infected by the techno-organic virus in the past... by Cable... who was infected by Apocalypse in the eventual future. Time paradox wackyness. Cable then apparently revealed that he was responsible for awakening Apocalypse because the mutant community needed to be strong and needed a strong villain to do so. I don't get it either.

 

As for the Horsemen, they're Sunfire, Gambit, Polaris and a newish character named Gazer. More from Wikipedia... although on Sunfire's page it seems he's broken free of Apocalypse's control.

 

"Gazer was saved from death and forced to battle an archeologist for the mantle of War, which he won with the aid of Apocalypse's majordomo and scribe, Ozymandias. Both Sunfire and Polaris were captured, and reluctantly altered into Famine and Pestilence, respectively. Gambit, however, submitted himself willingly to be transformed into Death, as he had come to believe Apocalypse could be helpful to the mutant cause though he would require to be watched."

[pochorenella 0]

I'll try and aswer what I can, hopefully it'll help:

 

1. His armor was given to him by Stark before or at the beginning of the Civil War storyline, during which Spider-Man plays a major part as a middle man, as he's torn between Pro-Registration (Iron Man) and Anti (Captain America).

 

1.The Spidey armor was more of a result of "The Other" storyline where he faced Morlun and somehow evolved some new powers. He may have died and be reborn with them or something, I haven't read the whole story so I'm not quite sure.

 

4. Regarding the most powerful weapon in the Marvel Universe, with no Infinity Gauntlet I'd assume then that it is the Cosmic Cube. The Ultimate Nullifier really just blows up the Universe or something, a weapon of galaxy-wide destruction, while the Cube is more in line with the Gauntlet powers.

 

5. While the Scarlet Witch certainly displayed some huge-ass reality-altering abilities during Avengers Dissasembled and House of M, let's not forget this little boy called Franklin Richards. The offspring of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Women created a fricking pocket Universe, for God's sake. If he's not the most powerful mutant right now, then he certainly will be soon.

 

6. Last time I saw the Scorpion donning the Venom symbiote was in the first MK Spider-Man storyarc, where Eddie Brock does indeed try to kill himself by slashing his wrists. Although they didn't say if he died or not, Peter did imply that when they found him doctors said he wouldn't last the night. He also had a malignant brain tumor, and the symbiote was the only thing that was keeping it in check. He auctioned his Venom suit to the highest bidder, thus assuring his future death. The symbiote went to some gangster's son who died afterwards, and then somehow ended up with Gargan. I don't think he uses the Scorpion suit underneath, although I haven't read any other Venom/Scorpion stories after this one.

[haws bah gawd 0]

While the Scarlet Witch certainly displayed some huge-ass reality-altering abilities during Avengers Dissasembled and House of M, let's not forget this little boy called Franklin Richards. The offspring of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Women created a fricking pocket Universe, for God's sake. If he's not the most powerful mutant right now, then he certainly will be soon.

 

I was under the impression that Franklin Richards powers were taken-away when Reed Richards used the Ultimate Nullifier to kill the guy that killed Galactus?

[pochorenella 0]

While the Scarlet Witch certainly displayed some huge-ass reality-altering abilities during Avengers Dissasembled and House of M, let's not forget this little boy called Franklin Richards. The offspring of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Women created a fricking pocket Universe, for God's sake. If he's not the most powerful mutant right now, then he certainly will be soon.

 

I was under the impression that Franklin Richards powers were taken-away when Reed Richards used the Ultimate Nullifier to kill the guy that killed Galactus?

 

You got me right there, man. I didn't read that mini-series where Galactus died so I wouldn't know. Although he's recently come back and even took the Human Torch as a Herald for a short while IIRC. And Mr. Fantastic used the Ultimate Nullifier and wasn't killed himself? I thought whomever used it would also be destroyed. Anyways, I seem to be out from the loop myself regarding Franklin Richards' power status.

[haws bah gawd 0]

While the Scarlet Witch certainly displayed some huge-ass reality-altering abilities during Avengers Dissasembled and House of M, let's not forget this little boy called Franklin Richards. The offspring of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Women created a fricking pocket Universe, for God's sake. If he's not the most powerful mutant right now, then he certainly will be soon.

 

I was under the impression that Franklin Richards powers were taken-away when Reed Richards used the Ultimate Nullifier to kill the guy that killed Galactus?

 

You got me right there, man. I didn't read that mini-series where Galactus died so I wouldn't know. Although he's recently come back and even took the Human Torch as a Herald for a short while IIRC. And Mr. Fantastic used the Ultimate Nullifier and wasn't killed himself? I thought whomever used it would also be destroyed. Anyways, I seem to be out from the loop myself regarding Franklin Richards' power status.

 

Here is the best I understand the story. Abraxas was some cosmic being that had some sort of terrible destructive power and was only kept at bay by Galactus. So once Galactus died, Abraxas decided it was his time to fulfill his goal of destroying all the alter realities. He was going to do with with the Ultimate Nullifier. SO long story short, there is a big battle, and Franklin Richard's uses his powers to resurrect Galactus. Galactus then takes thew Nullifier from Abraxas and gives it to Mr Fantastic. Reed then uses the Nullifier to destroy all of reality and recreate it without Abraxas all in one fell swoop. Silver Surfer was apparently also killed in the battle, but was resurrected when the Nullifier recreated everything. Franklin Richards was also recreated, but without any of his powers.

[I like Forums 0]

Who killed Galactus?

[haws bah gawd 0]

I've been doing a little research on the storylines and such that I've missed. Apparently Galactus died in battle with the Avengers, Fantastic Four, Star Jammers, then when he was dying, he told them his death would bring about a greater evil called Abraxas. While Galactus used the energy he drained from destroying worlds to survive, most of the energy was devoted to keeping Abraxas at bay. I'll be honest. The guy looks like a fruitcake, but he was destroyed by an Ultimate Nullifier-wielding Mr. Fantastic.

 

[SuperJerk 0]

Wait...Galactus is dead? When the fuck did this shit happen?

[JasonX 0]

1. What's the deal with Spiderman's Iron Man armor?

 

It's a fancy new bribe Tony Stark gave Spiderman in order to keep him in line as Iron Man's bitch

 

2. Apocalypse is back (I lost my interest in comics when they killed-off my favorite villian at the close of The Twelve) and Gambit and Sunfire have voluntarily become Horsemen. Who are his other Horsemen, and what is the purpose of his return?

 

Poccy came back to wipe out 90% of humanity after Brian Bendis depowered 90% of mutantkind. His horsemen were Gambit (Death), Sunfire (Famine), Polaris (Pestillence), and a new character named Gazer as War.

 

3. Who is the current end-all, be-all most powerful being in all of the Marvel Universe? I would assume it is still The Living Tribunal since it is the closest thing to God that I have seen come out of Marvel, and the only being who I don't remember backing-down from the Infinity Gauntlet.

 

4. Speaking of the Infinity Gauntlet, what is the current most powerful weapon in all of the Marvel Universe? The way I understand it, when the Infinity Gems were seperated, The Living Tribunal decreed that the Gems would never again work when brought together, and would only work seperately. That leaves the Ultimate Nullifier as the most powerful weapon?

 

Said questions are meaningless given how "most powerful" status can be given out and changed at a drop of a hat and regardless of storyline logic. Let's just say, for lack of argument, that the answer for 3 and 4 is Bendis the Living Ego.

 

5. Who is the current overall most powerful mutant? From what I have read about the House of M, and a few other stories, it seems Scarlett Witch is the most powerful non-enhanced mutant. I would guess Dark Phoenix would rank as the all-time most powerful enhanced mutant?

 

Currently it's Scarlet Witch, who's turned into a walking deux de machina device Brian Bendis uses to justify his hatred for all writing other than his own and his own bullshit ego-driven garbage writing.

 

6. I understand Eddie Brock apparently commited suicide, and the symbiote joined with Scorpion of all people. Does Mac Gargan wear the Scorpion suit, in addition to the symbiote?

 

Nope, just the Venom suit.

[JasonX 0]

Wait...Galactus is dead? When the fuck did this shit happen?

 

He died in 1999, in a mini-series that was supposed to lead to the introduction of the "Infinities" (a bunch of cosmic bad guys mentioned in "Avengers Forever") but the plotline got pushed aside for the "Maximum Security" crossover instead. Galactus was resurrected in the pages of FF and Abraxas was created to replace the Infinities instead as the threat Galactus warned everyone about before dying.....

[SuperJerk 0]

Wait...Galactus is dead? When the fuck did this shit happen?

 

He died in 1999, in a mini-series that was supposed to lead to the introduction of the "Infinities" (a bunch of cosmic bad guys mentioned in "Avengers Forever") but the plotline got pushed aside for the "Maximum Security" crossover instead. Galactus was resurrected in the pages of FF and Abraxas was created to replace the Infinities instead as the threat Galactus warned everyone about before dying.....

 

Oh.

 

You know, until I read your post, I forgot "Maximum Security" even existed.

[ZGangsta 0]

Geez, that Abraxas guy looks pretty fruity.

[Scroby 0]

Wow....I am so confused about Marvel's storylines now.