Marvel Database
Register
Advertisement
This page presents the interleaved events of the Great Flood, Atlantis and Lemuria's destruction, and the Second Host of the Celestials on Earth.

Quote1 ...the Celestials witnessed it all, this world fallen into chaos -- and they delivered their judgment! A Celestial weapon unleashed an explosion such as humanity had never seen before or has seen since -- so powerful that it rocked the entire planet -- plunging it into the worldwide disaster known as the Great Cataclysm! All of Lemuria as well as Atlantis sank beneath the raging seas! Most of the Deviants perished amidst the earthquakes and floods! The Deviant race would survive but their empire was finished! The Eternals, a race of superhuman beings created by the Celestials, were helpless to save most of the victims of the great deluge -- but one Eternal, Ikaris, guided a huge Ark filled with human beings and animals to safety! Quote2
Uatu the Watcher[src]

Synopsis

Overview[]

The "Great Cataclysm" (sometimes just the "Cataclysm",[5][6] Great Fall,[7] Great Flood,[8] the Flood[17] or Great Deluge)[1] caused Lemuria and Atlantis to be submerged into the sea 20,000 years ago[23] (circa 18,000 BC)[24][25][26][27][28][29] (other dates are sometimes provided, see notes).

Causes[]

Many events have been listed as reasons for that Cataclysm:

Great Cataclysm from History of the Marvel Universe Vol 2 1 001

The Second Host

  • This event is tied with the Second Host of the Celestials,[1] who observed how the Eternals had ignored baseline humanity while the Deviants enslaved it.[30]
  • Another tale, from Poseidon himself, stated that the Atlanteans' council of sorcerers tried to harness a fraction of the power of the Axis Mundi using the Omphalos but were unable to control the energies, causing the Cataclysm.[31]
  • Many tales attribute the Cataclysm to godly powers:
    • During the Hyborian Age, it was recounted that the Sea-Gods of Lemuria waxed angry and pulled the island of Lemuria down into the ocean.[3]
    • Astarta stated that at the same moment the oceans swallowed Atlantis' cities, the ancient Sea-God of Mu rose and caused the destruction of the coastal cities of the kingdom.[32]
    • Annunaki god Dagon planned to annihilate humanity with a great flood, but Ea persuaded him to only punish them.[33]
    • According to the Bible (Genesis 6-9)[34] and from a tale from Caretaker Sara,[17] when God looked down at the Earth and saw the wickedness of man, he caused the Flood.[34][17]
    • Other tales of godly-originated floods exist, but can't be confirmed as being the Great Cataclysm due to inconsistencies towards it. Please consult the notes for more information.
  • Llan also played an undescribed role in the Cataclysm, perhaps in conjunction with the Dweller in Darkness, the Darkholders, the Deviants, or others of the major threats of that era.[28]
  • The cybernetic alien entity known as the Suit stated that the Great Flood never occurred and that stories of it are nothing more than greatly over-exaggerated and mythologized accounts based on his species' first attempt to wipe out humanity, which had been postponed due to inclement weather and then aborted when they discovered they had been tricked by the unnamed entity that had first commissioned the genocide.[35][36]
  • A few other causes for the Cataclysm were hypothesized, though it is unrevealed whether these actually had any influence on that event, locally or globally:
    • The tremendously powerful magnet created by the renegade Atlantean scientist Nagorbu.
    • The mass of the giant Atlantean Kalgantor.[37]
    • The Hearth of Darkness, an extraterrestrial weapon which crash-landed on Earth the night Atlantis was destroyed.[38]
    • A set of magic gems called "The Madripoor Set", linked to a temple next to the modern city. The last time they were all assembled at once was concurrent with the fall of Atlantis.[39]
    • Gremlins, led by Kloto, repeatedly stole and restored an object called the Sacred Ball, which granted protective magic to Atlantis, in a fashion which maybe disrupted the magic.[40]

The Flood[]

The Celestials destroyed most of the Deviants, and their stronghold of Lemuria, causing it to sink below the ocean,[41] which also caused the sinking of Atlantis.[42]

The Ark[]

Utnapishtim's Ark from Eternals Vol 1 2 0002

The Ark carrying survivors from the Flood

The event kickstarted the myth of Noah's Ark because of the surviving group of Eternals and humans led by Utnapishtim on his Ark to escape the flood.[42][verification needed]

Aftermaths[]

Once the flood went away, Yahweh allegedly put a rainbow in the sky as a promise to the survivors (that survived in an Ark) that he would never again smite every living thing on Earth.[34][17]

Alternate realities[]

Earth-1610[]

The cataclysm that destroyed Atlantis was caused by the Tan-Ed-Drul.[43]

Notes

  • The Great Cataclysm is based off the Biblical Flood (possibly a legendary retelling from historical floods, such as the Black Sea deluge) and similar mythological Flood myths.
  • Some sources states the Great Cataclysm occurred in other dates than circa 18,000 BC, such as:
  • Though mentions of the Cataclysm occuring 10,000 years ago could fit the Post-Hyborian Cataclysm, they are likely to be an error of datation.
    • Such cases include the story "The Kingdom Beneath the Sea" (Namora #1), which depicts the sinking of the island of Mu as occurring ten thousand years ago. This can be ruled as an error, given the Great Cataclysm's profile in Blockbusters of the Marvel Universe #1 lists the sinking of Mu in Namora #1 as the earliest key chronicle referenced listed in its infobox.[48]
  • Other Cataclysms could be tied to the Great Cataclysm, including:
    • In Aztec religion, the world under the Fourth Sun was destroyed by the feud between Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca which caused a cataclysmic flood. That flood happened before the creation of mortals.[49]
    • The destruction of Kalumesh after being accursed could be another consequence of the Great Cataclysm; there is little information to confirm or deny it, but the lost and evil city destroyed in the Great Cataclysm is a common trope in the stories of Robert E. Howard, credited for concepts featured in "The Shadows of the Starstone!" (Marvel Premiere #7; (March, 1973), written by Gardner Fox and penciled by Craig Russell.

See Also

Links and References

  • Media the Second Host was mentioned in
  • Pages referring to the "Second Host" event

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Amazing Spider-Man Annual #23
  2. Conan the Barbarian #1
  3. 3.0 3.1 Conan the Barbarian #19
  4. Savage Sword of Conan #39 ; A Gazetteer of the Hyborian Age, Part VII: Vilayet Sea's entry
  5. 5.0 5.1 Ka-Zar (Vol. 2) #1
  6. 6.0 6.1 Marvel Spotlight #1617
  7. 7.0 7.1 Fantastic Four #576
  8. 8.0 8.1 Eternals #10
  9. Ghost Rider (Vol. 6) #30
  10. 10.0 10.1 Namor, the Sub-Mariner #62 ; Beware the Tides of March
  11. Alpha Flight #83
  12. Savage Sword of Conan #35
  13. Carnage (Vol. 2) #8
  14. Savage Sword of Conan #176
  15. Saga of the Sub-Mariner #1
  16. Ka-Zar (Vol. 3) #18
  17. 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 Ghost Rider (Vol. 6) #33
  18. Howard the Duck (Vol. 3) #6
  19. Conan the Barbarian #35
  20. Savage Tales #4 ; Night of the Dark God
  21. Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man #1
  22. Savage Sword of Conan #186 ; Horror Out Of Time
  23. X-Men: Phoenix Force Handbook #1 ; Grotesk's profile
  24. Marvel Atlas #1 ; Lemuria (Deviant)'s profile
  25. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #1 ; Atlas' profile
  26. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #4 ; Dreaming Celestial's profile
  27. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #2 ; Gorgons' profile
  28. 28.0 28.1 Mystic Arcana: The Book of Marvel Magic #1 ; Llan's profile
  29. All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #3 ; Atlantis' profile
  30. Eternals (Vol. 3) #1
  31. Incredible Hercules #123
  32. Conan the Barbarian #71
  33. All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z: Update #3 ; Annunaki's profile, Ea's paragraph
  34. 34.0 34.1 34.2 Bible Tales for Young Folk #1
  35. Venom #16
  36. Venom #17
  37. Marvel Tales #97
  38. Blockbusters of the Marvel Universe #1 ; Great Cataclysm's profile
  39. X-Treme X-Men #10
  40. Strange Tales #68
  41. Eternals #8
  42. 42.0 42.1 Eternals #2
  43. Ultimate Fantastic Four #56
  44. Marvel Graphic Novel #23 : Into Shamballa
  45. Marvel Atlas #2 ; Atlantis's profile
  46. Marvel Fact Files #41 ; Atlantis
  47. All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z: Update #1 ; Ikaris' profile
  48. Blockbusters of the Marvel Universe #1 ; Great Cataclysm's profile, Key Chronicle
  49. Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica #1 ; The Teteoh's profile
Advertisement