Secret Wars on Infinite Earths: The Comic Book Fight Club

MARVEL WOMAN & THE FALLEN versus GREEN GOBLIN & MAN-SPIDER

Goblins in the Night (Marvel)
Where: Mutant X #5 When: February 1999
Why: Howard Mackie How: Tom Raney

The Story So Far...
Panic fills the streets of Manhattan as an army of goblin creatures spread terror at the command of The Green Goblin! Just another nasty surprise from the alternate reality that has become Havok's new home!

In truth they are merely genetically-engineered frauds -- but Norman Osborn's gang war has brought the fear of dark magic back to a world that thought the nightmare hand ended long ago!

All things occult & mystical were locked away in response to this world's harrowing "Strange Debacle", but now a once complacent populous renews unwanted attention that threatens the dark secrets of The Goblin Queen! While Madelyne Pryor fights in the streets as The Six's Marvel Woman, she plots a far darker response to this incursion upon her demonic domain!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Spider-Man 5 (Super-Human)
Intelligence: Green Goblin 5 (Professor)
Speed: Spider-Man 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Spider-Man 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Spider-Man 5 (Cat-Like)
Fighting: Angel 4 (Trained)
Energy: Madelyne Pryor 5 (Lasers)
Total: Spider-Man 29 (Metahuman)

Marvel Woman and The Fallen might not sound familiar by those names, but you should recognize them as Madelyne Pryor and Warren Worthington III!

In the mainline Marvel Universe they're an ill-fated clone of Jean Grey, and original X-Man, Angel, but in the alternate reality of Mutant X -- also known as Earth-1298 -- they're sinister members of Earth's premier super-team: The Six!

True to the original: Madelyne Pryor was created by Mister Sinister to give birth to the ultimate mutant by procreating with the Summers line. In the world of Mutant X there was no Cyclops (on Earth), so her affair with Alex "Havok" Summers led to marriage, a son, and the reformation of X-Factor as The Six.

Madelyne possesses latent psychic & telekinetic abilities similar to Jean Grey's, but her true power comes from a deal with a demon that granted her command of dark magics and all that lurks in the shadows as The Goblin Queen.

That influence includes holding sway over The Fallen, who is the irrevocably dark-spirited transformation of Angel: a bat-winged horseman of death more terrifying than the Archangel created by Apocalypse in the main Marvel Universe.

Having more than just a bad attitude and merciless vindictive streak, this pale-skinned incarnation of Warren Worthington III can also breathe fire, and has talon-like finger tips capable of ripping through flesh.

This all spells bad news for Norman Osborn, whose persona as the Green Goblin has gone so far as to create a legion of genetically-engineered goblin-like creatures who do his bidding in his efforts to seize control of New York City's criminal underground. The creatures specifically prey upon this world's fear of all things magic -- outlawed and eradicated after "The Strange Debacle".

He remains a nemesis of the six-armed Man-Spider, who is this world's clone-saddled Peter Parker, possessing all the usual skills you would expect of Spider-Man, albeit with the six arms he shed shortly after growing them.

Man-Spider enters the battle presuming the heroic Six are in lockstep, but you and I know that's not the case. His history with Norman Osborn won't make them bosom buddies any time soon, but can they turn the tables on Goblin Queen and The Fallen? We know the players. I guess we should find out what happened!

The Tape: Green Goblin & Man-Spider Ranking: Angel (#50)

What Went Down...

Entering the darkened Bugle, The Goblin Queen can sense that the charlatan Green Goblin is somewhere in the building. She orders her minion The Fallen to find "the false one" -- but a volley of pumpkin bombs finds him instead!

The Green Goblin rides his glider around the cavernous ceiling, mocking Madlyne Pryor for her apparent whole-hearted belief in the supernatural hocus pocus he merely appropriated for the creation of his criminal persona.

Osborn rides his glider toward The Goblin Queen with a razor bat in his hand, undeterred by her accusation that his genetically engineered facsimiles have brought undue attention to the real underworld denizens she controls.

Before the dueling Goblin leaders can meet -- two strands of web snag the bat!

Man-Spider descends between them, ensnaring Green Goblin with three more strands of webbing slung from his many extra limbs!

A web-swinging kick takes Norman Osborn clean off his board -- with a two-fisted double-punch delivered on landing to keep the Green Goblin down.

Man-Spider webs the crafty villain's hands together and vows to out him to J Jonah Jameson and The Daily Bugle press, but this only seems to incite a glowing fury in Madelyne Pryor.

The web-slinger is completely baffled as she lets out a shrieking cry and begins to glow with green energy. He assures her everything is under control, but the Man-Spider has no idea how wrong he is.

Quick consultation with The Green Goblin does little to dissuade the Man-Spider's confidence in his ability to handle the situation -- even as Osborn pleads for his life: "Fool! Can't you see it? She is insane. There is murder in her eyes. Now unbind me, so I might have a fighting chance."

The Goblin Queen orders the spider to stand aside so she can execute the "false goblin". When Man-Spider tries to talk her down, reminding her that they're the good guys, she renders her resignation with a blast of supernatural energy!

A stunned Man-Spider is staggered physically and mentally by the attack.

Osborn continues to plead for his release, while The Goblin Queen recounts the world's severe rejection of all things arcane and mystic since "The Strange Debacle", and the complacency that had built up in her favour -- until the Green Goblin's theatrics renewed the populace's fear.

She sneers at Man-Spider's assertion that nobody will die this night as Green Goblin continues to plead for his life.

Man-Spider attempts to use his webs to hold The Goblin Queen to account, but The Fallen seers them with his spewing flame -- and slashes his talons across the hero's chest!

The room fills with eerie green supernatural light as The Goblin Queen's magic whisks the injure Man-Spider and Green Goblin from the ground and levitates them in the middle of the room.

She peels away The Green Goblin's mask, to expose the true face of Norman Osborn for execution. Then she conjures two glowing green pincer claws.

The Brute arrives upon the horrifying scene just in time to witness The Green Goblin and Man-Spider beheaded by his teammate.

He lets out a horrified objection as the bodies fall to the ground -- and Madlyne Pryor's descent into demonic darkness is completed.

The Hammer...

A grim turn of events as the heroes of the Mutant X universe show their true colours away from prying eyes. The rest of the world will continue to believe Madelyne Pryor and The Fallen are heroes, parlaying their guilt to the child-like Brute, who takes the rap for the double-murder after a brief skirmish & chase.

Not quite the introduction to Mutant X I expected for the site, but a tantalizing one as Marvel announce Madelyne Pryor & Archangel's entry into the Dark X-Men, and we gear up for more multiversal web-slinging in Across The Spider-Verse.

If I'm honest: I'm actually incredibly soured by cinema's cheap and simplistic ringing out of the "multiverse" concept, seemingly facilitated by the last decade of comics using the concept for haphazard, flimsy thrills.

The relative instability of a mainline reality has dramatically diminished the appeal of alternate universes. It seems like just getting one version right has become challenge enough, let alone polluting the waters with disproportionately sincere entries into stories like Secret Empire, or the brand-tainting 2015 Secret Wars.

All of that said: there was a time when exploring the multiverse held great appeal, and it's a lot more fun talking about the ones worth remembering than the ones that turn my stomach!

Of course, a lot of comic book fans have some story about reading their way through illness or injury, and a fat stack of Mutant X issues was exactly what got me through a pretty grim stomach-turning health scare in 2001. That, and a live performance by Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros on Letterman. Good stuff!

I already had a handful of issues from the first couple of years of Mutant X. Its fabled place in my personal history came at a time of otherwise downturn in comic book reading. Other interests were taking hold, and maybe the comics of the turn of the millennium weren't so great. Then again, maybe they were.

You might relate the intrigue of Mutant X to the earlier Age of Apocalypse, but that's only seeing it for the X-Men focused alternate reality it presented.

I might try to compare Mutant X to the universe-hopping of Exiles with its team of central characters and broader scope, but that's wrong as well.

Mutant X was an on-going series starring Havok. Ostensibly the continuation and relaunch of X-Factor, which had already undergone three distinct eras, and ended in 1998 with X-Factor #149 and Havok's apparent death. A cliffhanger resolved one Twlight Zone twist later when he finds himself inside the body of an Alex Summers living his best life as father of li'l Scotty, and leader of the universally beloved super-team The Six in a world that doesn't fear or hate mutants.

Like the world of a classic issue of What If...?, Mutant X is filled with dark and morose twists, none more evident than the members of The Six themselves:

There's seemingly no Jean Grey in this reality, instead finding Madelyne Pryor continuing her tenure as an ill fitted replacement. Angel was transformed into a more vile and evil creature by Apocalypse; Henry McCoy continued experimenting on himself until he devolved into a green, hoofed Brute; Storm never recovered from Dracula's bite, becoming the vampiric Bloodstorm; and Ice Man never regained control of his powers after tampering by Loki.

A big part of the appeal of the series then becomes discovering how this altered version of the Marvel Universe has affected other characters, doubling the fun with interesting guest villains and heroes both.

A lot of examples trade on iconic stories and moments from Marvel history, and in the case of the murdered Man-Spider -- he not only retains the six-armed mutation famous from Amazing Spider-Man #101, but also turns out to be the spider-clone when the real Man-Spider testifies at the trial for his murder!

The whole episode, "goblin clones" included, appears to trade on the still recent Clone Saga, death of Ben Reilly, and return of Norman Osborn, who'd been presumed dead since famously being impaled on his own glider in 1973's Amazing Spider-Man #122. An ailment he recovered from to return to print in 1996.

With rare exception we file character "divergents" (alternate reality versions) under the main character, so for that reason we'll infer the deceased Man-Spider is tantamount to original Spider-Clone, Ben Reilly. Despite his significant differences we'll also put The Fallen under the Angel tag, even though this Warren Worthington III makes for one of the most compelling variants of the series.

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Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has featured more than 700 battles and ranked well over 1,000 characters! Find the entire multiverse, and future entries, by following topics linked throughout this post, or by diving into the Secret Archive for an index of featured fights in order of publisher, series, and issue number.

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Winners: Goblin Queen & The Fallen
#204 (new) Madelyne Pryor [+2 kills]
#39 (+11) Angel (The Fallen)
#75 (-7) Scarlet Spider (Man-Spider)
#1050 (-12) Green Goblin (Norman Osborn)