2099: World of Tomorrow

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2099: World of Tomorrow


Cover to 2099: World of Tomorrow #8

Publisher Marvel Comics
Schedule Monthly
Format ongoing
Publication dates 1996 - 1997
Number of issues 8 issues
Creative team
Writer(s) Joe Kelly
Ben Raab
Artist(s) Pasqual Ferry
Jason Armstrong
David Brewer
and others
Colourist(s) Brian Buccellato

2099: World of Tomorrow was a comic book series published by Marvel Comics. The series continued incomplete storylines after all the other Marvel 2099 titles had been cancelled. This included X-Men 2099, Spider-Man 2099, X-Nation 2099, Hulk 2099, Doom 2099 and the Fantastic Four 2099.

[edit] Plot

There are several interweaving plot threads. The world has been devastated by global flooding after the polar ice-caps melted, and 90% of the world's population died. The remaining heroes and humans gather in the Savage Land, Latveria, or on boats. The Thing leads an expedition to Mars, with members of X-Nation, to assess the chances of evacuating Earth. The Sorceress Supreme, Mlle Strange battles Garokk the Petrified Man deep beneath the Savage Land. Uproar and Wulff are forced to battle in gladiatorial combat in a collosseum aboard a pirate ship owned by The Vulture. The X-Men 2099 struggle to build a community uniting humans and mutants. The Fantastic Four are torn between the desire to help save and rebuild this world, and their quest to return to their own time. There is an invasion by the Phalanx, the alien adversaries of the X-Men. Spider-Man forms an uneasy alliance with Dr. Doom to prevent Earth from being converted by the Transmode Virus. All the storylines except for Strange's eventually converge in the climax of The Phalanx War. Eventually, Dr. Doom sacrifices his life to destroy the Phalanx on Earth, while Twilight brings reinforcements of aboriginal Martians to destroy the Phalanx in orbit. Nostromo (of X-Nation) becomes the new heir to Latveria, and Spider-Man goes searching for his missing brother Gabe. The series ends after only 8 issues.

The most obviously dangling plot-thread is that the Thing is never seen again after issue 1. In issue 2, the rest of the Fantastic Four return to their own time without him. His crash-landing on Mars could certainly be seen as a death scene, but if so it's one of the lowest key exits for a major hero that Marvel have ever done.

Bizarrely, the final page of the final issue, rather than tying up any of the many dangling stories (such as the battle between Strange and Garokk) chooses instead to start another mystery surrounding the resurrection of Ghost Rider 2099. This suggests that the cancellation was quite sudden and unexpected, even to the creative team. It was followed by the 2099 Manifest Destiny one-shot in March 1998.