—Council of Cross-Time Kangs[source]We have discovered something so big, so dangerous, that even we Kangs could not rival it for power. A Celestial. A renegade Celestial who fell from grace but not from power...and who has, through means we cannot begin to guess at, constructed a weapon mighty enough to threaten the entire space-time structure of the Omniverse! It must be a wonderful thing....and we want it! [...] [T]hat object before you, my bold friend, is a Time Bubble some fiften years long! These images were obtained at a great cost. They took the lives of three of our member Kangs. You see here the perimeter of the Time Bubble itself, during one of the many attempts to penetrate it. We ourselves have made many such attempts. As have others. But the probability flux around the bubble is unbelievably powerful! You cannot image what a maelstrom of terror it is! Sometimes, the penetrators are destroyed violently, rendered instantly to atoms! Sometimes, they merely cease to exist. But no one, not even the Kangs, has been able to enter the bubble to reach the lost years within. [... "Why should it be entered?"] For the best of all possible reasons, Kang. For power. That Time Bubble is the home of the renegade Celestial!
History
The Bubble at the Heart of Time blocked time travel across realities and before and after the time of its formation. The Council of Cross-Time Kangs learned of its existence and believed that it was the home of a renegade Celestial who had created a great weapon within it. The traitorous Kang Nebula tried manipulating the Avengers into penetrating the bubble so she could claim the weapon for herself but her attempt ultimately failed.[1] Eventually, Reed Richards learned of the bubble's existence, and built a Time-Sled to pierce the bubble. With the help of Iron Man, Thor, Gladiator of that reality, and the rest of the Fantastic Four, the Time Bubble was destroyed.[2]
The Time Bubble formed in Earth-8810 as the Black Celestial's machination against the other Celestials. After Galactus lay dying on Earth as a result of his battle with Terrax and the FF,[3] the Black Celestial restored him but significantly increased his hunger. Galactus then created machines that would enable him to draw the universe into himself, creating a massive black hole and the Time Bubble, while the Black Celestial would survive via his own devices and restart the new universe. The Time Bubble prevented time travel before and after, spanning 15 years. Eventually, the FF managed to enter the Time Bubble via their Time-Sled. They attempted to use Shi'ar weapons to destroy Galactus' machines but were stopped by the Black Celestial. To defeat the Black Celestial, the FF and Gladiator destroyed his mountain base power source, then tricked him into believing that they were going to travel through time to warn the other Celestials of his plot. They then travelled back and forth in time around the Time Bubble, over and over, while the Black Celestial persued, time travelling via his own power. The Time Bubble made time travel tremendously more difficult meaning the Black Celestial was forced to expend an immense amount of energy on this chase. At the end, Reed then lured the Black Celestial directly into Galactus' black hole, gambling that the Celestial had been too weakened at this point to escape it. The massive influx of power from the Celestial restored Galactus' sanity, who signalled to Reed to retrieve the Ultimate Nullifier to destroy both himself and the Time Bubble.[4]Residents
Notes
- Fantastic Four #337–341 significantly changed many of the details surrounding the Time Bubble:
- In Avengers #296–297, the original story, it is stated that only a single Avengers team will enter the Time Bubble. However, these issues changed it to the Fantastic Four.
- Originally it was assumed that the "weapon" inside the Time Bubble is just some weapon that the Dreaming Celestial had created. The Prime Kang attempted to steal it by assassinating the still-sleeping Dreaming Celestial in the "present" Earth-616.[5]
- It was originally stated to exist in Earth-616's future,[6] hence Kang trying to steal the weapon in Earth-616's present,[5] but #340 revealed details that meant the Time Bubble could only exist in a divergent timeline, as the events that led up to the bubble's creation diverged in Fantastic Four #243–244, possibly earlier.
- The Dreaming Celestial's history from #340 is very inaccurate; although, given that it is a divergent reality, it is possible it could have been true for that reality. The "Black Celestial" itself looks extremely different as well.
- These issues reveal that the Time Bubble was actually created by Galactus' machines and the Black Celestial was using Galactus as a "pawn."
- Within the Time-Bubble, everything appeared to be "frozen" in time, though it was actually the consequence of time being stretched out by the Time Bubble to an extreme extent. Technology such as the FF's Time-Sled, the Kangs' Armor, and those used by agents of the TVA could bypass the effects so long as the tech remained active.[7] Gladiator could temporarily interact with the FF by moving at hyperspeed.[8] Nigh-omnipotent beings like the Black Celestial or Galactus were unaffected.[9]
See Also
- 8 appearance(s) of Bubble at the Heart of Time
- 3 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Bubble at the Heart of Time
- 1 mention(s) of Bubble at the Heart of Time
- 1 image(s) of Bubble at the Heart of Time