Earth-Forever Yesterday

Type: Alternate Earth

Environment: Earth-Like

Dominant Life Forms: Humans

Representatives: Avengers, Sphinx (Meryet Karim), the Mutant Liberation Front

Affliations: Sphinx (Meryet Karim), Sayge

Enemies: Nova, New Warriors, Self-Knowledge

Aliases: Earth-Sphinx

Appearances: New Warriors #11-13 (May-July, 1991), Avengers Forever #11-12 (Nov 1999)

History: NW #11 (fb) - When Moses defied the Pharaoh, in this Earth the Pharoah's sorcered defeated him, and Moses was killed. The Sorcerer grew in importance, and eventually received the Ka Stone from a young woman who found it in the desert. Having acquired eternal life and great power, the sorcerer became the Sphinx. He married and eternalized the young woman.

Together, they advised hundreds of pharaohs, guided the discovery of new continents, watched the Declaration of Independence and the creation of the United States of Assyria, the civil war that ended the caucasian slavery; overall, they helped guide civilization.

Then, in the early 20th century, World War I made Europe a bloody battlefield, and the USA had to interfere. THe Sphinx and wife moved to the USA, but the period between wars was equally unstable. Another Great War came, this time between the Anglo-Saxons, Egyptians and Assyrians allied against the Asian-Pacific Union. The Asians dropped A-bombs over New Menphis, and destroyed Aknatonikutt and New Hebridas; Maqaman Island survived because of its force field.

Exhausted, the Sphinx gave his wife's cat immortality, and gave her the Ka Stone, allowing himself to die at last.

NW #11 - Cannonball, Firestar and Marvel Man (this Earth's Vance Astrovik), part of a group of mutant rebels, are intercepted by this Earth's Avengers while they try to take secret information regarding the force field around Maqaman Island, the Sphinx's lair. In the ensuing fight, Commander Logan distracts the Avengers long enough for the three to be saved, but is killed by Horus in the process. The three return safely to their HQ in New Hebridas. Returning to his family home, the Avenger Nova finds Sayge, who reveals him the Earth's true history.

NW #12 - A group of the Mutant Liberation Front (Juggernaut, Cannonball, marvel Man, Firestar, beast and Sebastian Shaw) invaded Maqaman Island, having deactivated its force field, using the information diven by Sgt. Fury and Reed Richards. Meanwhile, fully informed of his Earth's inherent falsehood, Richard Rider leaves his home to help the Avengers battle the invading mutants. More and more his mind begins to turn to the truth (Earth-616), and he switches side. He knocks out the Avengers, and as the whole MLF invades the island, a towering Sphinx appears, ready to destroy the MLF and Earth altogether. (Meanwhile, the Richard and the Taylors, humans trying to betray the Sphinx, are killed at the Taylor home. Only young Dwayne survives, ready for revenge.)

NW #13 - As the battle between the Sphinx and the MLF rages on, young Dwayne Taylor infiltrated the Sphinx home at the Chrysler Building, where, now as Night Thrasher, Dwyane sees his world plunging into chaos. Dwayne sees the Sphinx's cat, the last memory of his love of her, and decides to slay it. The Sphinx is distract when she senses it, and flees the scene. The MLF starts to battle the assembled Avengers, and the members of Earth-616 New Warriors, aided by Sayge (sans Namorita, who is helping an invasion of the Persian Gulf with his cousing, and Speedball, who's just a powerless kid in Springdale, Aknatonikutt), go to the Chrysler building, where they help Night Thrasher. Richard Rider captures the cat, and threatens to kill it if the Sphinx, whom Sayge reveals the Truth to, doesn't alter the world back to its real status. Wanting to save her last token of her lost love, the Sphinx reverts her alteration of the Earth, returning all to normalcy.

Comments: Created by Fabian Nicieza and Mark Bagley.

Since the Sphinx's and Sayge's profiles covers well the creation and eventual end of Earth-Forever Yesterday, this profile is actually a small attempt at that Earth's historiography -- the reason I ignored the appearances of Meryet Karim before the creation of Earth-Forever Yesterday, and did not go to great lenghts about the first Sphinx. The cat she saved, by the way, crumbled to dust when she reverted the Earth, for he was a part of the false world of Forever Yesterday.


Although Marvel editors generally attempt to shy away from using charachters from the Abrahamic mythologies/religions (Judaism, the Samaritan Religion, Trinitarian Christianity, Islam), a few things have leaked through.
In the Marvel Universe, the people of Belit of Shem (as seen in Conan) were the ancestors of the Jews and Arabs. The word Semite comes from the word Shem. Now, Belit's people were polytheistic, not monotheistic, but this affords no contradiction, since in fact the early Hebrews were in fact polytheistic, even in the Hebrew Bible. (Ever wonder why the first sentence in the book (called in the Septuagint) Genesis starts off with God referring to himself as "We"? That is because the Hebrew word "Elohim", which appears in the original Hebrew texts, means godS or goddesses, not god singular; words in Hebrew that are plural are usually ended with an "-im". Note that the Hebrew Bible shows the Hebrews practicing polytheism in many places. Moses is actually a retcon; the Hebrews did not become monotheistic until King Josiah of Judah circa 600 BCE. See circa the book (called in the Septuagint) 2 Kings 22-24.) The Arabs were polytheistic until the emergence of Mohammed circa 600 CE.
I'd also place Noah's ark in the cataclysm that destroyed the Hyborian era, as the cataclysm that destroyed Atlantis has been shown in Eternals and Captain America Annual#13 to tie in with Bablyonian mythology and the Eternals.
I'd slate Abraham (Judah, the first Jew's great-grandfather) as having lived after the Hyborian era, once the people of Shem became the Hebrews (but, as this occured before Judah, not the Jews) and other Semitic language peoples. Moses did not emerge until about 400 years after the death of Judah according to the
Hebrew Bible. Since the geneologies given in the Hebrew Bible go no further than about 4500 years ago, the Abrahamic mythology can be slotted comfortably after the Hyborian era. -- DocSavage80



Avengers

The Earth-Forever Yesterday Avengers were a government's task force, and loyal to Sphinx to the very end. They resided at Avengers Mansion, and had a butler called Jamaal (his eye-patch might be a reference to Jarvis wounds at the hands of Mr. Hyde in Earth-616). The Avengers were Sceptre (Monica Rambeau, Earth-616's Photon), Iron Man (Tony Stark), Storm (Ororo Munroe), Captain Assyria (name unrevealed), the Heliopolan God Horus (who served as that team's Thor), and Nova (Richard Rider). All Avengers, save for Nova, were black; Horus and Storm were husband and wife; Sceptre and Iron Man were also involved. These Avengers were ruthless and violent; Horus did not hesitate to kill Logan. Nova, as described above, eventually betrayed the team and fought for the MLF.

Appearances: New Warriors #11-13, Avengers Forever #11-12




Mutant Liberation Front

The Mutant Liberation Front was an underground organization that grouped not only mutants, but all sorts of people, superpowered or not, who fought against the Sphinx's rule. Magneto and Sebastian Shaw were leaders, and among the main operatives seen are Cannonball, Cyclops, Beast, Juggernaut, Polaris, Marvel Man (Vance Astrovik), Commander Logan and Firestar. Also part of the MLF, in no particular order: Hulk, Vision, Colossus, Angel, Blob, Nightcrawler, White Queen, Sabretooth, Havok, Abomination, Gargoyle, Rogue, Sandman, Toad, Vector, the Human Torch, Banshee and X-Ray. Atlantis and the Asian-Pacific Union were allied with the MLF; the Taylors and the Richards were collaborated with them, and were murdered in the process. Sgt. Fury was an unseen collaborator.

Appearances: New Warriors #11-13


Clarifications: Sayge has no known connection to:
Henry Sayge, a vampire who used the "Sun-Walker" formula, @ Marvel Team-Up II#7
Sage, a hippie/new age guru, @ Man-Thing I#20
Sage, Tessa, of the X-Men, @ Uncanny X-Men#132, X-Men II#109
Sage of Earth-Deathlok, an agent of Godwulf, @ Captain America I#288
The Libris Verititatus, the Books of Truth, the books of the precog Destiny, @ X-Treme X-Men, blah, blah, blah

Sphinx, Meryet Karim, should not be confused with
Sphinx, Anath-Na-Mut, her lover.

Nova, Richard Rider, should not be confused with
Nova, Frankie Rayner, herald of Galactus.

Fabian Nicieza should not be confused with
Fabio, who can't believe it's not butter.

Profile by Cisco

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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