Comic Book / Marvel Comics #1000

"Eight Bells! – You're on time boys!"
— Phineas Horton, Marvel Comics #1

Marvel Comics #1000 is an extra large comic book published by Marvel Comics for their 80th anniversary. It contains over eighty pages, each page with one comic and corresponding to a year that Marvel (or Timely or Atlas Comics) published a comic. It's called Marvel Comics #1000 due to the editors extrapolating what number Marvel Comics (which turned into Marvel Mystery Comics and then Marvel Tales) would be had it not stopped being published.^note Though according to The Hollywood Reporter, even if Marvel Comics had continued to be published monthly since 1939, it would only have gotten to roughly issue #960 at the time #1000 was published

The overall story of the book, written by Al Ewing with a variety of artists, is about the Eternity Mask — a mysterious mask that makes the wearer equal to whomever they fight — and the people who wore the mask, tried to use the mask for their own purpose, or sought the mask. As Robert daCosta, Jimmy Woo, Night Thrasher, and Adam Brashear try to unravel its mystery, they soon learn that the Eternity Mask is intrinsically tied to the history of the Marvel Universe.

Stories in Marvel Comics #1000:

• "Eight Bells." (1939: The Human Torch debuts in Marvel Comics #1.) Phineas Horton shows off his latest invention, a synthetic man, to the Scientists Guild. Written by Al Ewing, art Steve Epting.
• "The Operative and the X-Men." (1940: The Three Xs appear in Mystic Comics #1.) The private detective known as the Ferret gives the Eternity Mask over to the Three Xs. Written by Al Ewing, art Patch Zircher.
• "The Other Door." (1941: The Thunderer is created in Daring Mystery Comics #1.) As Steve Rogers is being led to Operation: Rebirth, he looks through another door and sees a different ritual take place. Written by Al Ewing, art by Leonardo Romero.
• "The Loop." (1942: Citizen V first appears in Daring Mystery Comics #8.) Bobby daCosta, formerly Sunspot and now Citizen V, talks about the mystery of the Three Xs and the Eternity Mask to Jimmy Woo, Agent of Atlas. Written by Al Ewing, art by Joshua Cassara.
• "Fight for Love." (1943: Miss America debuts in Marvel Mystery Comics #49.) Miss America Chavez explains how she arrived on this Earth and what she fights for. Written by Jeremy Whitley, art by Irene Koh.
• "Untitled." (1944: The Captain America movie serial hits the big screen.) Captain America explains why he wears a mask in order to represent an idea. Written by Mark Waid, art by John Cassady.
• "Six Tips for Success." (1945: Patsy Walker gets her own self-titled comic book.) Patsy Walker, Hellcat, explains her six tips for success. Written by Kathryn Immonen, art by Stuart Immonen.
• "Calling Frequency X." (1946: The All-Winners Squad first appears in All Winners Comics #1.) Captain America's replacement is dead due to the machinations of the Scientists Guild. Written by Al Ewing, art by Ron Garney.
• "Deep Dives." (1947: Namorita premieres in Marvel Mystery Comics #82.) Jimmy Woo goes to his colleague Namorita for information about the "Dark Avenger." Written by Al Ewing, art by Leonard Kirk.
• "The Black Rider." (1948: The Black Rider debuts in All Western Winners #2.) Dr. Matt Masters tries to save the life of the Black Rider. Written by Al Ewing, art by Phil Noto.
• "Make Mine a Manhattan." (1949: Tessie the Typist ends its run with #23.) Cindy comes to New York City to visit her cousin, Tessie the Typist. Written by Kurt Busiek, art by Cameron Stewart.
• "The Last Stand of the Dark Avenger." (1950: Marvel Boy introduced in Marvel Boy #1.) Robert Grayson, Marvel Boy, meets Jerry Carstars, the Dark Avenger. Written by Al Ewing, art by Gabriel Hardman.
• "Spin Cycle." (1951: Strange Tales premieres.) Doctor Strange fights off his own cloak, who doesn't want to get clean. Written by Joe Hill, art by Michael Allred.
• "The Journey." (1952: Journey into Mystery debuts.) Loki gives himself some advice. Written by Kieron Gillen, art by Doug Braithwaite.
• "The Return of Not Brand Echh." (1953: Marvel's first parody series, Crazy, is introduced.) The Incredible Bulk fights the Thung. Written by Jeph Loeb, art by Tim Sale.
• "The Membrane." (1954: Gorilla-Man first appears in Men's Adventures #26.) Jimmy Woo asks Ken Hale, the Gorilla-Man, to search through a dead Celestial's memories for anything having to do with the Eternity Mask. Written by Al Ewing, art by Cory Smith.
• "The Guild of Strange Science." (1955: The Black Knight is introduced in BlackKnight #1.) The Eternity Mask is found to have been created back in Arthurian times and worn by a man who fought the first Black Knight. Written by Al Ewing, art by Chris Weston.
• "Rebels and Judges." (1956: Jimmy Woo first appears in Yellow Claw #1.) Jimmy Woo ponders about how the Eternity Mask came to America and was responsible for revolutions and maybe the superhero. Written by Al Ewing, art by Eduardo Risso.
• "Dennis Piper's Last Stand." (1957: The Black Rider Rides Again premieres.) Dr. Matt Masters, the Black Rider, gives his mask over to Dennis Piper, the Operative. Written by Al Ewing, art by Cafu.
• "Strange Worlds." (1958: Jack Kirby brings sci-fi to Marvel with Strange Worlds #1.) The Three Xs, the leaders of the Scientists Guild, evolve and become the Enclave. Written by Al Ewing, art by Klaus Janson.
• "The Last Word." (1959: The Hulk's longtime home Tales to Astonish is introduced.) Someone tries to interview the Hulk. Written and illustrated by Alex Ross.
• "The Interview." (1960: Groot first menaces the world in Tales to Astonish #13.) Rocket Raccoon becomes fed up of Groot's answers to an interview. Written by James M. Iglehart, art by Oscar Martin.
• "Till You Die." (1961: Fantastic Four #1 published.) Benjamin Grimm, the Thing, is interviewed about why he does what he does. Written by Saladin Ahmed, art by Steve Rude.
• "Professor Cold Call." (1962: Spider-Man debuts in Amazing Fantasy #15.) Spider-Man calls one of his professors for help after being bitten by a radioactive spider. Written by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, art by Javier Rodriguez.
• "Untitled." (1963: Iron Man is introduced in Tales of Suspense #39.) Tony Stark reflects on why he became Iron Man. Written and illustrated by Walter Simonson.
• "A Midwinter Night's Dream." (1964: Captain America is revived from the ice in Avengers #4.) A young Steve Rogers walks home in the cold. Written by Gerry Duggan, art by Chris Samnee.
• "Little Blackagar in Slumberland." (1965: The Inhumans first appear in Fantastic Four #45.) Black Bolt has a dream. Written by Jonathan, Everett, and Desmond Lethem, art by Paul Hornschemeier.
• "One Heart." (1966: The Black Panther is created in Fantastic Four #52.) T'Challa talks about how to honor Wakanda. Written by Priest, art by Brian Stelfreeze.
• "HIM." (1967: Adam Warlock is introduced as Him in Fantastic Four #67.) Jerome Hamilton, the last living member of the Enclave, takes the Eternity Mask. Written by Al Ewing, art by Joe Bennett.
• "Seven Things You Can Count On." (1968: Carol Danvers first appears in Marvel Super-Heroes #13.) Carol Danvers thinks about the seven things you can count on. Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, art by David Lopez.
• "The Farmer." (1969: The origin of Galactus revealed in Thor #1969.) Galactus compares himself to a farmer and the universe to a farm. Written by Ryan North, art by James Harren.
• "Of Kings and Sinners." (1970: Conan joins the the Marvel line with Conan the Barbarian #1.) King Conan lets a thief go. Written by Ralph Macchio, art by Marco Checchetto.
• "Invisible No More..." (1971: Red Wolf headlines in Marvel Spotlight #1.) The legend of Red Wolf is told. Written by Jimmy "Taboo" Gomez and Benjamin Jackendoff, art by Jeffrey Veregge.
• "Blade Week." (1972: The Tomb of Dracula is launched.) Seven days in the life of Eric Brooks. Written by Jim Zub, art by Nick Bradshaw.
• "Because of Her." (1973: Gwen Stacy breathes her last in Amazing Spider-Man #121.) Mary Jane reminisces about the night Gwen died. Written by Gerry Conway, art by Greg Land.
• "Enter—Stage Center." (1974: Wolverine is introduced by Incredible Hulk #180.) A couple of actors take their cues. Written by Roy Thomas, art by Rod Reis.
• "We Are What We Are." (1975: The Punisher's origin is revealed in Marvel Preview #2.) The Punisher answers a question. Written by Matthew Rosenberg, art by Leinil Francis Yu.
• "Heirs of the Tiger." (1976: White Tiger gets his own solo series in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #20.) Angela del Toro and Ava Ayala reminds themselves about the original Sons of the Tiger and the White Tiger. Written by Al Ewing, art by George Perez.
• "Red Four." (1977: Star Wars #1 becomes the first Marvel comic since the Golden Age to sell over a million copies.) Red Four sacrifices herself in vain to stop Darth Vader. Written by Charles Soule, art by Terry Dodson.
• "Blind Justice." (1978: James MacDonald Hudson debuts as Weapon Alpha in Uncanny X-Men #109.) Weapon Alpha looks into an Enclave outpost that mysterious destroyed. Written by Al Ewing, art by Carlos Pacheco.
• "Nighttime in the City." (1979: Night Raven is introduced by Marvel UK in Hulk Comic #1.) Night Raven talks about the downsides of immortality. Written by Toby Whithouse, art by Alan Davis.
• "She." (1980: She-Hulk is born in Savage She-Hulk #1.) Jennifer Walters in the She-Hulk. Written by Rainbow Rowell, art by Kris Anka.
• "End of the Day." (1981: Iron Man battles Doctor Doom in Invincible Iron Man #150.) After Iron Man and Doctor Doom battle, each goes home at the end of the day. Written and illustrated by Donald Mustard.
• "The Prince of Power Returns." (1982: Hercules headlines his own future-set limited series.) The Rigellian Recorder introduces Hercules, Prince of Power. Written by David Mandel, art by Alex Guimares.
• "Over Troubles Waters." (1983: Storm drastically changes her look in Uncanny X-Men #172.) A mute young girl remembers seeing Storm. Written by Eve L. Ewing, art by Jen Bartel.
• "We're Calling Him Ben." (1984: Spider-Man gets his new costume in Amazing Spider-Man #252.) A pregnant woman rescued by Spider-Man asks his real name so she can name her son after him. Written by Brad Meltzer, art by Julian Totino Tedesco.
• "The Privilege." (1985: Odin gives his life to end the Surtur Saga in Thor #355.) Thor talks about why it's his privilege to he protect the Earth. Written by Tom DeFalco, art by Ron Frenz.
• "The Tender, Flaky Taste of Weltschmerz!" (1986: The Howard the Duck movie is released.) Howard the Duck looks for meaning in life. Written and art by Gold, Mooneyham, and Affe.
• "Jet Lag." (1987: Spider-Man Versus Wolverine #1 is published.) Spider-Man still feels guilt over the woman he accidentally killed. Written by Priest, art by Mark Bright.
• "The Big Bounce." (1988: Speedball makes his premiere in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22.) Speedball can't stop bouncing. Written by Ed Brisson, art by Jorge Fornes.
• "The 'McDuffie Device!" (1989: Damage Control receives its first limited series.) A new guy joins Damage Control. Written by Adam F. Goldberg, art by Adam Riches.
• "Mystery Lessons." (1990: Night Thrasher leads the New Warriors in New Warriors #1.) Jimmy Woo recruits Night Thrasher to look into the mystery of the Eternity Mask. Written by Al Ewing, art by Daniel Acuna.
• "Force of X." (1991: The New Mutants become X-Force in New Mutants #100.) Cable talks about reforming the New Mutants into X-Force. Written and illustrated by Rob Liefeld.
• "Trading Foes!" (1992: Erik Larson becomes the regular writer/artist of Spider-Man.) Spider-Man complains to the Thing about the Thing clobbering Spider-Man's villain. Written and illustrated by Erik Larson.
• "Bloodbath." (1993: Wolverine and the Punisher: Damaging Evidence is published.) Wolverine and the Publisher have a brief rest before fighting ninjas. Written by Jason Aaron, art by Goran Parlov.
• "The Route." (1994: The infamous Clone Saga begins in Spider-Man titles.) Spider-Man explains his route. Written by Donny Cates, art by Geoff Shaw.
• "The First Horsemen." (1995: The X-Men enter the Age of Apocalypse.) Apocalypse decides to wake his original horsemen. Written by Jonathan Hickman, art by Dustin Weaver.
• "Glory Days." (1996: Captain America and three other core series are relaunched as Heroes Reborn.) The Pledge of Allegiance. Written and illustrated by Patrick Gleason.
• "Turkey Soup for the Deadpool Soul." (1997: Deadpool receives his first ongoing series.) Deadpool's Super-Homey Fun-Time Suggestions! Written by Gail Simone, art by David Baldeon.
• "The Devil's Brand." (1998: Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti launch the Marvel Knights imprint.) Daredevil questions the very name he was given. Written and illustrated by Joe Quesada.
• "I've Said Enough." (1999: Incredible Hulk ends with #474.) An older Rick Jones explains that he's alive. Written by Peter David, art by Adam Kubert.
• "With a View to Forever!" (2000: Chris Claremont returns to write X-Men #100.) Sage chronicles the X-Men. Written by Chris Claremont, art by Salvador Larroca.
• "A Mother's Work." (2001: Jessica Jones makes her first appearance in Alias #1.) Jessica Jones answers a question. Written by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld, art by Mattia de Iulis.
• "Monsters." (2002: Elsa Bloodstone takes over monster hunting from her dead father.) Elsa Bloodstone asks herself if Jeff the Baby Landshark is a monster. Written by Kelly Thompson, art by Pepe Larraz.
• "Historia X." (2003: Manga artist Kia Asamiya illustrates a run on Uncanny X-Men.) A history of the X-Men. Written by Tini Howard, art by Kia Asamiya.
• "Part of Your World." (2004: X-23 makes her first Marvel Universe appearance in NYX #3.) Gabby wakes Laura up. Written by Tom Taylor, art by Juann Cabal.
• "The Celebration Dinner." (2005: The Young Avengers make their first appearance.) The Young Avengers reunite for dinner...and some crimefighting. Written by Allan Heinberg, art by Jim Cheung.
• "Parental Guidance Suggested." (2006: Luke Cage marries Jessica Jones in New Avengers Annual #1.) Luke Cage and Jessica Jones talk about parenting. Written by David F. Walker, art by JJ Kirby.
• "The Family Hulk." (2007: Amadeus Cho sides with the Hulk against the whole Marvel Universe in World War Hulk.) The Hulk is joined by his family. Written by Greg Pak, art by Takeshi Miyazawa.
• "Armor: Disassemble." (2008: The Iron Man movie is released.) Iron Man is disassembled. Written and illustrated by Chip Zdarsky.
• "X Plus 80." (2009: Adam Brashear, the Blue Marvel, comes out of self-imposed exile.) Adam Brashear, Night Thrasher, and Jimmy Woo ask what became of the Enclave. Written by Al Ewing, art by Jesus Saiz.
• "The MJ Memoirs." (2010: Why Mary Jane Watson didn't marry Peter Parker is revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #638.) Face it, Tiger, it's history of Mary Jane Watson. Written and illustrated by J. Scott Campbell.
• "How to Save a Set of Keys." (2011: Miles Morales is introduced in Ultimate Fallout #4.) Miles locks himself out of the house again. Written by Jason Reynolds, art by Patrick O'Keefe.
• "He Arrives Just in Time." (2012: Amazing Spider-Man #700 is published.) Spider-Man beats Doc Ock just in time to meet Aunt May for an anniversary. Written by Dan Slott, art by Marcos Martin.
• "A History of Scars." (2013: Cable returns to lead X-Force in Cable & X-Force #1.) Every one of Cable's scars comes with a different story. Written and illustrated by Jeff Lemire.
• "Miracleman: Prelude." (2014: Marvel begins publishing Miracleman.) Miracleman remembers comic books in his new utopian world. Written by Neil Gaiman, art by Mark Buckingham.
• "Doom Alone." (2015: Doctor Doom takes over Battleworld in Secret Wars #2.) Doom knows what it means to be alone. Written and illustrated by Jason Latour.
• "Gridlocked." (2016: The Deadpool movie is released.) Deadpool in some nine-panel action. Written by Derek Landy, art by Paco Medina.
• "What Do You Regret?" (2017: Stan Lee appears as the Watcher in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.) Various superheroes say what they regret. Written by J. Michael Straczynski, art by Ed McGuinness.
• "The Choice." (2018: The Silver Surfer once more becomes the Herald of Galactus in Infinity Countdown #4.) Norrin Radd rides the waves in a universe where anything and everything is possible. Written by Charles Soule, art by Steve McNiven after Moebius.
• "Eternity." (2019: The Marvel Universe celebrates 80 years of publishing history.) The origin of the Eternity Mask is revealed. Written by Al Ewing, art by Christian Ward.
• "The Mask...And The Raider" (2020: The face under the mask is revealed.) The newest hero wears the Eternity Mask. Written by Al Ewing, art by Mike Deodato Jr. (The only two-page story.)
• "Tomorrow." The newest Enclave reveals itself and its newest project. Written by Al Ewing, art by Paul Azaceta.

The issue was followed up by Marvel Comics #1001, which showcased more one page stories that couldn't fit here.

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Tropes included in Marvel Comics #1000:

• Adaptation Origin Connection: The Black Rider and the Masked Raider originally had no connection. Now they do. As do the Operative and the Ferret, who it turns out are the same person. (The Operative is a Golden Age anti-hero that was retconned into existence much later on, while the Ferret originally appeared during the Golden Age.)
• Animated Actors: "Enter—Stage Center" presents the moments before Wolverine's introduction as an actor getting jazzed up for his big scene, showing him briefly going over his background with his writers before he goes on stage.
• Arc Welding: Al Ewing manages an epic version of this as he connects the Scientists Guild, the Three Xs, and the Enclave together, as well as the Black Rider, the Masked Raider, the Operative, the Ferret, the Thunderer, and Blind Justice. Oh, and Korvac.
  • It's also revealed that Blind Justice, whose identity was previously unknown, was Jerome Hamilton, the Enclave scientist who was believed to have died in their first appearance.
  • The Enclave are also said to have played a part in the creation of the original Human Torch, and Adam-II (apparently being responsible for Adam-II's evil.)
• Artistic License – History: The page for 1943 features America Chavez, stating that Miss America debuted that year. However, that was Madeline Joyce, while America Chavez didn't premiere until 2011.
• Art Shift: This is a given since every page is by a different artist.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: The Deadpool pages, sure, but also the Hercules page, too. And Rick Jones's page.
• The Bus Came Back: The Young Avengers segment has Eli Bradley return as Patriot, after last having been seen at the end of Avengers: The Children's Crusade back in 2011.
• Call-Forward: Many. The Three Xs mention that they believe a new evolution of humanity will soon appear — which, ironically, become the X-Men. Then, when they become the Enclave, we see them sketching Adam Warlock's cocoon.
• Canon Character All Along: The Operative was an original character created for Mystery Men and active during the period immediately predating Marvel's publication history. Turns out after the events of that story, he became the Golden Age Private Eye, the Ferret.
• Canon Foreigner: Now that Conan the Barbarian is part of the Marvel Universe, the book features two stories not set in the Marvel Universe: "Red Four," which is set in the Star Wars universe, and "Miracleman: Prelude," which is set in Miracleman's universe.
• Cerebus Retcon: America Chavez's backstory in "Fight For Love" is given a darker treatment. In Young Avengers: Vol. 2 and America (2017), she was depicted arriving on Earth-616 from the Utopian Realm with little trouble, the latter even having her immediately join a party. In #1000, she arrived in the Bronx nearly exhausted to death from the energy consumption it took for a small child to travel to another universe. The same Nuyorican grandma seen feeding her at the party in America is established to have rescued young Chavez when she found her laying on the street.
• Chekhov's Gag: During Night Thrasher's segment, he speculates that a person with the Eternity Mask could be wearing a mask under the mask. Sure enough, the new Masked Raider is wearing mask over the mask.
• Child Naming Request: "We're Calling Him Ben." reveals that several pregnant women have asked Spidey what his real name was, since they wanted to name their infant sons after the man who'd just saved them. Peter lied and told them his name was Ben, to honor his dead uncle.
  • Makes one wonder how much NYC naming demographics have shifted.
• Coat, Hat, Mask: The outfit of the new Masked Raider. His mask just happens to be the Eternity Mask.
• Continuity Cavalcade: What do you expect from an Al Ewing book celebrating 80 years of Marvel?
• Cool Mask: The Eternity Mask. It's not just cool, it makes anyone who wears it is equal to anyone they fight.
• Creator Cameo: J. Michael Straczynski appears in one panel of "What Do You Regret?" regretting his Amazing Spider-Man story "Sins Past."
• Deathly Unmasking: Jim Gardley is found bleeding out by Matt Masters. While Matt wants to take the Eternity Mask off of Jim so he won't choke on his own blood, Jim begs him not to, as he claims the mask gives him a Healing Factor that lets him withstand grave injuries. True to form, once Matt takes off the mask, Jim succumbs to his wounds and dies.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Sir Percy, the Black Knight, is horrified by the idea that the Eternity Mask might one day lead to the birth of a nation without a king, where the common man holds power over nobility.^note Notably, Al Ewing has expressed anti-monarchist sentiments in the past.
• Elemental Motifs: Eternity presents Marvel Comics' first four heroes — The Human Torch, who becomes an Elemental Embodiment (fire), Namor, who has a fully amphibious body with mastery of undersea combat (water), Ka-Zar, who has superhuman strength (earth), and The Angel, who has wings that allow him to fly (air) — as representatives of the elements.
• Grail in the Garbage: The Ferret had the Eternity Mask in his possession at one point. He gives it up to the Three X's because he figures he doesn't need it and they said they wanted to fight Nazis with it. Anyone who's read The Marvels Project knows he'll come to regret that decision...
• Intimate Lotion Application: One joke panel features Domino, Rogue, and Psylocke in swimsuits trying to convince Deadpool to rub lotion on them for the next swimsuit special.
• Ironic Echo: Night Thrasher, investigating the Eternity Mask, quotes something his old (evil) mentor said about "building with many hands", then murmurs "the mystery intrigues me", something The One Above All said in the final issue of The Ultimates Squared.
• Lower-Deck Episode: "Make Mine Manhattan" is about Tessie the Typist and her cousin Cindy, two of the few non-powered or heroic focus characters of the issue, watching as superhero battles and gunfights unfold around them.
• Mask of Power: The Eternity Mask, created by a group of mages in medieval Europe from Eternity's own substance to empower their peasants into equals of King Arthur's knights and overthrow the monarchy. It is enchanted to equalize ones power and skill to whoever they face, always giving them a fighting chance as long as they don't use it for oppression or already outmatch them. It's changed hands many, many times over the centuries, came into the possession of both individuals and groups, all using it to their own ends even if most would never fully understand how it works.
• Meta Origin: The Eternity Mask ties the origin of the Masked Raider, the Black Rider, the Thunderer/Dark Avenger and Blind Justice together. Meanwhile, the Enclave side of things ties together the Human Torch, Adam-II and Adam Warlock.
• Mythology Gag: Here and there...
  • The cover itself is Alex Ross's hand-painted collage of iconic Marvel Comics covers.
  • The first story is drawn by Steve Epting, who also drew the Golden Age-focused story The Marvels Project, which began with the creation of the Human Torch.
  • The first story with Roberto uses the same style of introductory captions used through New Avengers and U.S.Avengers. Not coincidentally, those were written by Al Ewing.
  • The Young Avengers page is drawn by Jim Cheung, who drew the original series and Children's Crusade.
  • The In Memoriam page that includes all the names of the Marvel staff that passed away, reuses the opening page of the first Marvel Graphic Novel (better known as The Death of Captain Marvel), the book where Captain Marvel died from cancer and the Marvel Universe came together to honor him.
• Obliviously Evil: One of the few conditions of wearing the Eternity Mask is you can't use it to oppress people, so the Enclave are miffed when they can't get it to work for them. They're just trying to control the world. What's so evil about that?
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: A lot of the Jessica Jones and Luke Cage page has her bringing up the Doctor Doom money story.
• Put on a Bus: Roberto does some of the leg-work through the main story, only to disappear partway through due to his death in Uncanny X-Men (2018) (though he returns in X-Men (2019)).
• Rapid Aging: The fate of Blind Justice, aged to death by agents of the Enclave, which makes figuring out when he died impossible.
• Reunion Show: More like Reunion Short but the Young Avengers segment acts as one for the original team getting back together for the first time in a while.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: One of Deadpool's segments has him brush off the 9-panel layout as too claustrophobic and short to get anything said... while rambling for 8 of those panels.
• Series Continuity Error:
  • One segment showing Captain America's childhood depicts him as being friends with Bucky... except that wasn't true for the comic versions of Cap and Bucky. Bucky grew up a military brat, and didn't meet Steve Rodgers until he became Captain America in World War 2.
  • There is a note saying that Stan Lee played a Watcher in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Anyone who has seen the film knows that he didn't. In the credits, he is listed as "Watcher's Informant."
• Shown Their Work: Al Ewing certainly has, managing to pull from Marvel's obscure history such characters as "the Three Xs" and connecting two random Western characters, the Black Rider and the Masked Raider, merely by the fact that they wore black masks.
• Something We Forgot: Blind Justice being the "something" in question - back when Adam Warlock bust out of his cocoon way back when, he apparently killed most of the Enclave. Jerome Hamilton survived, but was blinded. He grabbed the Eternity Mask and spent the next several years fighting against the Enclave, and anyone he thought was affiliated with them.
• The Stinger: The story ends, followed by the long list of artists credits for the issue, then a memorial page for all the Marvel personnel who've passed over the years... then one last story page, showing the last of the Enclave working on Adam-IV... also known as Korvac...
• Strong as They Need to Be: The Eternity Mask makes the wearer the equal to whomever they are fighting. But as the aged Black Rider said, you can still be defeated or killed, all it does is give you a fighting chance.
• The Un-Reveal:
  • Night Thrasher speculates that among the many owners of the Eternity Mask could've been a few others over the years who've worn black masks, like one of the Zodiacs. We don't learn if his hunch is correct.
  • Whoever the newest Masked Raider is goes unrevealed. For now, though the page notes it will be revealed come 2020.
• You Kill It, You Bought It: Jimmy Woo asks his old buddy Gorilla Man to help scan the mind of the dead Celestial the Avengers are operating out of to find out more about the Eternity Mask. Ken is reluctant in case it kills him, and then passes the powers of Gorilla Man on to it.
  Gorilla Man: Gorilla Space God, Jimmy.

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