Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: doctor who, fantastic four, marvel, reckoning war

Dan Slott Goes Deeper Into Doctor Who In Fantastic Four #40 (Spoilers)

In the first Fantastic Four The Reckoning War Alpha One Shot we got a flashback to the origin of The Watchers. Which predated the origin of the Time Lords in Doctor Who, and was probably nicked by Bob Baker for Doctor Who: The Underworld in 1978.

A modern retelling of the original story from Tales Of Suspense #53 from 1964 by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Paul Reinman and Art Simek.

Although it is "gifts" rather than the specific "nuclear energy" from the original. Well, that was the sixties, everything was radioactive.

The same planet though, Proscilious.

And the same results as before – at least initially.

But rather than continent to continent, in the new version told today, it goes far beyond Proscilious.

And they get the name, The Reckoning. With The Watchers forced to act.

In the original it is kept just to their planet and the Watchers are held to account by the Proscilians.

And so the Watchers make their vow of non-interference. This time though, the threat of the Proscilians, The Reckoning, is put on pause…

And The Reckoning War seems to indicate that they have escaped that barrier. Which is what leads the Watchers to break that vow.

The story of Proscilians was told more recently as well, in the Original Sin series, we learned that Uatu's father was the Watcher who originally gave nuclear technology to the Prosilicans…

…with Uatu's search of parallel universes being motivated by the desire to find the one world where his father's act of charity was proved to be the right thing to do.

And he never does.

In today's Fantastic Four #40, as the sins of the fathers are revisited upon the sons, Uatu makes reference to that retelling as well.

While Reed Richards is looking more and more like a parallel version of himself, The Maker. Even making a special helmet for himself.

And reaching into the far future… in The Guardians Of The Galaxy as Vance Astro, wields Captain America's shield as Major Victory.

The Badoon are a reptilian species who conquered Earth in the 31st century, leading to the creation of the original Guardians of the Galaxy, who fought against them.

So can see how the emergence of such a figure a thousand years before his time might make a certain impression. And Reed Richards looks more and more Maker-y.

But it's getting too much for Reed. Like Frank Hoyle's 1953 novel, The Black Cloud, the information is too much for one person to gold in their head, no matter how complicated their helmet.

But the language seems familiar…

Doctor Who: The Parting Of Ways:

THE DOCTOR: You looked into the Time Vortex. Rose, no one's meant to see that.

THE DOCTOR: I absorbed all the energy of the Time Vortex, and no one's meant to do that. Every cell in my body's dying.

Doctor Who: Journey's End

THE DOCTOR: She took my mind into her own head. But that's a Time Lord consciousness. All that knowledge, it was killing her.

Dan Slott really, really likes his Doctor Who that he is writing a new series for Titan Comics. But from the evidence of The Reckoning War, he just can't wait.

FANTASTIC FOUR #40
MARVEL COMICS
NOV210866
(W) Dan Slott (A) Rachael Stott (CA) Carlos Pacheco
THE RECKONING WAR! The opening shot of the Reckoning War has left the Earth in complete and utter chaos. And it turns out that we are not alone. The entire universe is on fire. The enemy has had eons to prepare for this attack – Reed Richards has had two hours to mount a defense. Johnny Storm has gone full supernova. Sue Storm has become completely invisible – even the Watchers can't see her. And Colonel Ben Grimm, for the first time in a long time, is ready to go to war! RATED T+In Shops: Feb 16, 2022 SRP: $3.99

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