I love a good mystery. One of the reasons I went the DeSPECtive route was that I've always had an affinity for detectives. Sleuths. Gumshoes. From the original Thin Man films with Powell and Loy lobbing bon mots and throwing back cocktails through Potter's Donen-on-acid The Singing Detective and as recently as the modern noir of Veronica Mars (at least those first seasons), I always find myself lulled in by the familiar beats of a good whodunnit.
I got a little bit of that feeling reading Marvel 1000, a book that I initially thought existed primarily to celebrate yet another Marvel Anniversary of some sort, to break sales records, to allow artists to jam and writers to wax poetic in two-page tableaux (and don't get me started on Marvel 1001 which doubled down on all the above!) But buried in amongst the journeys down memory lane were the drop-in interludes of an Al Ewing-penned backstory. Names that flickered with familiarity, characters that evoked vague remembrance...I decided to isolate and reorder the pages chronologically and there it was: a shadowy group, an experiment gone wrong, an unsolved murder, revenge and retribution, an object of great power and finally, a lone figure, literally shrouded in mystery at story's end. All told a 22 page mystery centered around the Eternity Mask.
You can search back through my MeWe page to see exactly what happened but we essentially tracked the history of a mask woven during the times of Camelot designed to help the common people rail up against tyranny and kings and its retconned connection to key (and sometimes forgotten) events and characters throughout Marvel's history. Here's the bare bones timeline:
419 AD
Recounted from the Book of Gildas the Wise:
A hidden Guild of Scientists crafted the Eternity Mask to ward against kings in Camelot
Sir Percy & his Ebony Blade of Other Britain barely triumphs over the Eternity mask-wearer
The mask is recovered by the Guild
1880
Dr. Matt Masters takes Eternity Mask from Jim Gardley/Masked Raider after he is unable to save him following a gunfight. It is revealed that the Eternity Mask while powerful does not make the wearer invulnerable.
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| Who said Westerns were dead? |
When it came time to look into who some of the more obscure characters were, I dug into the Golden Age treasure trove that is the Marvel Mystery Handbook. This is where any Who's Who style entries below come from.
1920
80-year old Matt Masters arranges for thief, Dennis Piper to break into his home. He has chosen him as the next wielder of the Eternity Mask.
1939 (8o years prior to current day Marvel)
The Scientists' Guild (Maris Morlak, Jerome Hamilton, Carlo Zota) visits Dr. Phineas Horton as he is creating first Human Torch. (Adam 1)
1940
The Scientists' Guild, calling themselves the 3 X’s visit Dennis Piper (now going by Leslie Lenrow, the Ferret. Renowned detective) and retrieve the Eternity Mask. (He relinquishes it upon hearing that they plan to use it to fight Nazis)
1941
As Steve Rogers participates in Super Soldier project, he walks past a room in the complex and sees the Scientists' Guild reading an eldritch tome in which Jerry Carstairs is about to receive Eternity Mask and become The Thunderer.
1948
Adam II kills Bill Nasland (2nd Captain America)
Shinski joins Scientists' Guild, uses longevity treatment on Guild members
The Thunderer becomes The Dark Avenger vowing to take down the reckless Scientists' Guild.
1958
Scientists' Guild renamed The Enclave.
Jerry Carstairs’ corpse (killed by The Enclave as later recounted by Jerome Hamilton) discovered by Bob Grayson (Marvel Boy).
1959
Jimmy Woo de-aged; loses all memories before 1959
2006
Jerome Hamilton wields mask; takes on identity of Blind Justice to seek revenge against Enclave for abandoning him for dead.
Blind Justice first appeared in Solo Avengers 8,
available in dollar bins everywhere!
2008
Blind Justice attacks Guardian; makes parallel (or erroneously infers link) between Dept. H and Enclave
2019
Roberta daCosta and Jimmy Woo begin investigation into history of Eternity Mask
Blind Justice’s body found by Night Thrasher. Due to chronal interference, aging of body, murder could have happened at any time. (No mask is found at the scene and conjecture that Hamilton passed it on to next wearer)
Blue Marvel brought in after disappearance of Roberta daCosta.
The Masked Raider (2019) makes first appearance wielding guns last seen being given to son of Thomas Holloway (Angel)
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| Final Page of Marvels Project issue 8 |
2020
Zota successful in Adam IV project- Korvac created
While I continued to look for more clues that might appear to tie into the Eternity Mask, I got my next lead from an unexpected source. I had seen a solicit in Captain America 15 a few months ago that remarked that "justice would be served". Any self-respecting Marvel 80's Zombie could see the writing on the wall: the return of classic Cap villain, Scourge of the Underworld. It turns out that he has been a major behind the scenes catalyst in much of what has been going on in Ta-Nehesi Coates' . run on that book.
I then thought back to the legendary Mark Gruenwald's take on the character which culminated with the U.S. Agent mini-series that revealed the backstory behind the enigmatic Scourge. Of particular interest was the retcon of Thomas Halloway, the Angel. I wrote about that character not too long ago in reference to his appearance in the panel of silhouettes on the Christian Ward Eternity page.
Halloway had come out of retirement in order to ensure that he would protect civilian lives by any means necessary. Alongside Domino (more on him in a bit), Caprice, Bloodstain, Vagabond and assorted henchmen, the Scourge program eliminated several C-list villains. The series ended with Halloway seemingly killed but this was subsequently disproven in Captain America 440. (Yet further retconning of the character revealed a Red Skull connection, in which the Skull managed to 'turn' several of Halloway's agents.
The first Domino, Dominic Dunsinane, was also an interesting character who made a random first appearance in The Rampaging Hulk 4. His death in U.S. Agent 4 would seemingly remove him from a return as an agent of Scourge or wielder of the Eternity Mask but this being comics.....
Before I fell too much further down the rabbit hole, I went back to the original book, Marvel 1000 for another reread.
The story up to now was neatly encapsulated here:
Reading the words of the Masked Raider, depending on how you read these lines: "I recorded these interviews from TV, from podcasts...a couple I did myself", new possibilities opened up.
Could the Masked Raider have possibly been a journalist? My mind raced- Marvel's Phil Sheldon? A great way for Marvel to connect someone who had a working knowledge of the 616. Or heading back further to the Golden Age, maybe the Phantom Reporter, last seen in The Twelve. And as seen in that next to last page, that mask and guns again.
Check out that tagline on the Marcos Martin 1:15 of this 2009 one-shot. Coincidence? 🕵️
So as is often wont to happen, digging deeper into one mystery led to another. The initial question of who wore the Eternity Mask as the Masked Raider? Could it be Thomas Holloway? Holloway's son? John Walker? Roberto daCosta (unlikely due to the New Mutants returning)? One of the other key GA characters above? The other mystery could ultimately end up being they key and that is the identity of the new Scourge and the connection that seems to be building. All good mysteries usually wrap things up neatly but what better way to bring readers back then end on a cliffhanger? We're likely to have further layers revealed in future issues of Captain America and then Incoming. To be continued...
