The Avengers #200

"The Child is Father To...?"

After experiencing an impossibly short two-day pregnancy, Ms. Marvel delivers a baby boy in the Avengers infirmary, attended by Dr. Donald Blake (a.k.a. Thor) and Jocasta. The Avengers treat the event like a happy normal occasion and coo over the infant. Ms. Marvel, however, is decidedly upset by the experience.

Overnight, Ms. Marvel’s child grows into a toddler and begins speaking. In just a few more hours, he is an adolescent boy but demonstrates an even more advanced intellect. He calls himself Marcus and gives evasive answers to questions about where he came from. He promises to explain everything just as soon as he can complete a secret project. Given technical gear to work with, he sets to work creating a sophisticated device.

Meanwhile, all around the NYC area, people are experiencing shifts in time, either being transported to different eras themselves or encountering historical or futuristic beings.

Initially, Ms. Marvel refuses to even see her child, but Wonder Man persuades her to confront her problem, difficult as it might be. Thus, she goes to the lab and meets a now fully grown Marcus, who instantly recognizes her but alternately calls her “mother” and “Carol.” Ms. Marvel seems to recognize his face but can’t recall how.

Just then, the mansion comes under attack… by a T-Rex! Spaceships and WWI era fighter planes buzz the mansion as well. While Iron-Man and the Vision tackle them, the rest of the team inside the mansion encounter various other time-displaced, aggressive intruders. Hawkeye, who has been especially suspicious of Marcus all along, ducks out of the melee, intent on confronting him in the lab.

Down in the lab, all the other Avengers (aside from Ms. Marvel) depart to join the fighting. Carol shoves Dr. Blake into a secure room for his protection and he uses the opportunity to transform into Thor and join the battle. Marcus assures Carol that everything will be alright just as soon as he activates his device, a time flux generator. Carol demands answers from him but he knocks her out. Seeing this, Hawkeye assumes Marcus is a straight-out villain and destroys the machine with an explosive arrow.

Thor and Iron-Man burst into the lab. Marcus is ready to take them all on, but Ms. Marvel (who has recovered) intervenes, stating that she will defend them from him. Marcus then admits he merely wanted to goad them into killing him!

He goes on to explain that he is actually the son of the Avengers' old foe Immortus. Ages ago, the master of limbo had rescued a doomed survivor of a shipwreck, an unnamed woman, and brought her to limbo to be his consort. Together, they produced Marcus. The woman eventually had to return to her point in time and Immortus himself was killed (actually, his predecessor Kang was killed, thus negating Immortus's existence). Marcus was left alone and as a child born in limbo, he could not exist on Earth without disrupting the timeline. He devised a plan to be re-born on Earth: he plucked Carol out of time, brought her to limbo and wooed her. (Marcus specifically mentions “...admittedly with a subtle boost from Immortus’ machines…”, baldly stating that she was mentally manipulated.) Once he implanted his seed in her, he restored her to her own point in time so that she could give birth to him. Marcus intended his machine to stabilize his presence on Earth, but since it has now been destroyed, his only options are either to return to a lonely existence in limbo or die.

Carol takes pity on him. She tells her male compatriots that she realizes she has feelings for him and wants to be with him. Thus, Thor transports the pair of them to limbo. The time disruptions immediately vanish and Ms. Marvel is gone