Rachel Anne Summers is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . The character was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-plotter John Byrne .
168-445: In her first appearance, the character's surname was not revealed; in later appearances, she was established as the daughter of the alternate future counterparts to Cyclops and Jean Grey-Summers from the dystopian Days of Future Past timeline. Although there are other characters bearing her name throughout the multiverse , she herself is considered a multiversal anomaly with no true alternate-universe counterparts. The character
336-490: A Shi'ar holoempathic crystal at her grandparents' home. The crystal was imprinted with a portion of Rachel's mother's essence inside it as a tribute to the family shortly after Jean Grey's death. After Rachel took a vow to remember her mother with the uniform and name of Phoenix, the Phoenix Force fully bonded with her. She was granted access to its power on a cosmic magnitude, albeit in a much more limited fashion than
504-430: A "battle of the ages". Cable defeated Gaunt in the battle and Rachel, now free, was able to use her residual Phoenix Force to return them both to the present. She then decided to take a break from superheroics and enrolled in college after she made Cable promise he would not tell anyone she was back. Despite her efforts to live a normal life, however, she was kidnapped by the telepath Elias Bogan and subsequently rescued by
672-447: A Wonderful Life , George Bailey makes a wish that he had never existed, which an angel, Clarence, asks God to grant to teach George how important his life really is; he is about to be arrested for fraud in relation to money having gone missing from the bank he runs. He gets to see what his gentle sleepy town would be like if he never lived, including the death of his brother Harry at a young age, which in turn results in many troops dying in
840-495: A central plot-point , or it may simply be mentioned and quickly dismissed, having served its purpose of establishing a realm unconstrained by realism. Discworld , for example, only very rarely mentions our world or any other worlds, as Pratchett set the books in a parallel universe instead of in "our" reality to allow for magic on the Disc . While technically incorrect, and looked down upon by hard science-fiction fans and authors,
1008-458: A character claims that the universe is dangerous because the poem went unfinished, but whether this was his misapprehension or not is not established. Some fictional approaches definitively establish the independence of the parallel world, sometimes by having the world differ from the book's account; other approaches have works of fiction create and affect the parallel world: L. Sprague de Camp 's Solomon's Stone , taking place on an astral plane,
1176-550: A dream or some other altered state of consciousness . Examples include the Dream Cycle stories by H. P. Lovecraft or the Thomas Covenant stories of Stephen R. Donaldson . Often, stories of this type have as a major theme the nature of reality itself, questioning whether the dream-world is as real as the waking world. Science fiction often employs this theme in the ideas of cyberspace and virtual reality . In
1344-541: A fantastic island, as Jonathan Swift does in Gulliver's Travels or in the 1949 novel Silverlock by John Myers Myers , or be sucked up into a tornado and land in Oz . These " lost world " stories can be seen as geographic equivalents of a "parallel universe," as the worlds portrayed are separate from our own, and hidden to everyone except those who take the difficult journey there. The geographic "lost world" can blur into
1512-611: A few cases, the interaction between the worlds is an important element, so that the focus is not on simply the fantasy world, but on ours as well. Sometimes the intent is to let them mingle and see what would happen, such as introducing a computer programmer into a high fantasy world as seen in Rick Cook 's Wizardry series, while other times an attempt to keep them from mingling becomes a major plot point, such as in Aaron Allston 's Doc Sidhe . In that story, our "grim world"
1680-618: A flashback to her time there where she is held in chains and tortured. The three former X-Men were joined by Captain Britain and Meggan and founded the British superhero team Excalibur . While part of the team, she discovered that this universe's version of her mother, Jean Grey, was alive. She attempted to bond with Jean, but Jean, upon discovering Rachel was the present host for the Phoenix, rejected any contact with her. Jean still resented
1848-514: A good portion of the Shi'ar Empire. Inhabiting the body of her brother, Nova asserts control of Empress Lilandra and causes a Shi'ar civil war. Jean Grey is instrumental in ending this threat. Despite the aid she gave them by eliminating the threat of Cassandra Nova, the Shi'ar still held a grudge against Jean Grey for the destruction she caused as Dark Phoenix. In the Phoenix Endsong series,
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#17327802463002016-533: A great number of their people and making the rest flee for their lives. Eventually, the Shi'ar settled on their planet, took the M'Kraan Crystal as their own, and passed down the legend of the M'Kraan Crystal as a sacred gift from their deities, Sharra and K'ythri . The M'Kraan then changed their name to Scy'ar Tal and devoted their culture and society to the destruction of the Shi`ar Empire. With their first attack, they destroyed Feather's Edge by transporting
2184-775: A group of Shi'ar tried to eliminate both the Phoenix Force and Jean Grey. Jean, however, escaped their suicide bomb attack and returned to the White Hot Room to restore herself. In the "End of Greys" story arc, the Shi'ar wanted to wipe out the Grey genome and Quentin Quire with the purpose of eliminating the possibility of a new Omega-level mutant becoming a host for the Phoenix Force. The Shi'ar Death Commandos murdered Jean Grey's father , niece , nephew , and other relatives in an alien invasion on Earth, thus inciting
2352-834: A human. Unlike Humans the Shi'ar do not dream, except for those born "defective" or "infected by dreams". Such Shi'ar include Warbird and the Shi'ar having survived the Fianden's weapons. There have also been Shi'ar who had developed superpowers such as Electron, Rook'shir, Deathcry, Dakari, White Noise and Black Light. This can be explained as most of them are members of the Imperial Family and because of Rook'shir, who had transmitted his Phoenix Force manipulation power to his descendants. Some Shi'ar have also telepathic abilities. The Shi'ar possess technologies common to most Marvel alien races, including: The Shi'ar also possess more unique technologies, including: According to
2520-485: A kamikaze attack, whom Harry would have saved if George was around to save Harry. At times, alternative universes have been featured in small scale independent productions such as Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo's It Happened Here (1964), featuring an alternative United Kingdom which had undergone Operation Sea Lion in 1940 and had been defeated and occupied by Nazi Germany . It focused on moral questions related to
2688-634: A member of the Galactic Council representing the Shi'ar Empire. When the Shi'ar found out that the reason for the decay of the universe was on Earth, they decided to destroy the planet. However, the Guardians of the Galaxy managed to warn the Avengers about the attack. When approaching Earth, the Shi'ar alerted humanity about their destruction of Earth. However Sunspot and A.I.M. used
2856-617: A message. However at that moment, Moira (a powerful alternate personality of the mutant Legion) warped reality taking Rachel's mind with it creating the amnesic Revenant. Once reality was restored, Rachel's mind is separated from her body which according to her is "half a universe away". Because of Moira's actions, Rachel no longer remembers the message and her mind retains the form of her Age of X counterpart. Scott promised her that they would return her home. Rachel reappears in Schism . She asks Rogue to connect with her to see what will happen. When
3024-489: A more explicit "parallel universe" when the fantasy realm overlaps a section of the "real" world, but is much larger inside than out, as in Robert Holdstock 's novel Mythago Wood . However, increasing geographical knowledge meant that such locations had to be farther and farther off. Perhaps influenced by ideas from science fiction, many works chose a setting that takes place in another, separate reality. As it
3192-402: A new darker uniform and begin a romance with Korvus. She soon breaks off the relationship after she realizes their bond is only because of the residual Phoenix Force. Leading up to the fight with Vulcan, Rachel is shown using her powers to kill the guards who stand in her way. Havok warns her not to, but Rachel tells him that they deserve to die after what they did to her family. When it comes to
3360-591: A parallel universe but is actually a distinct idea. A counter-Earth is a planet that shares Earth's orbit but is on the opposite side of the Sun, and thus cannot be seen from Earth. There would be no necessity that such a planet would be like Earth in any way, although typically in fiction it is practically identical to Earth. Since Counter-Earth is within our universe and the Solar System , reaching it can be accomplished with ordinary space travel. Convergent evolution
3528-414: A parallel universe is "another dimension", stemming from the idea that if the 4th dimension is time, the 5th dimension—a direction at a right angle to the fourth —is a direction into any of the alternate spacetime realities. Fiction has long borrowed an idea of "another world" from myth , legend and religion . Heaven , Hell , Olympus , and Valhalla are all "alternative universes" different from
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#17327802463003696-571: A person decides between jam or butter on his toast , two universes are created: one where that person chose jam, and another where that person chose butter. The concept of "sidewise" time travel, a term taken from Murray Leinster's " Sidewise in Time ", is used to allow characters to pass through many different alternative histories, all descendant from some common branch point. Often, worlds that are more similar to each other are considered closer to each other in terms of this sidewise travel. For example,
3864-542: A pre-existing world. Occasionally, this approach becomes self-referential, treating the literary universe of the work itself as explicitly parallel to the universe where the work was created. Stephen King 's seven-volume Dark Tower series hinges upon the existence of multiple parallel worlds, many of which are King's own literary creations. Ultimately the characters become aware that they are only "real" in King's literary universe (this can be debated as an example of breaking
4032-808: A report for The Five as part of the Resurrection Protocols of Krakoa. Their first case involves the supposed death of Northstar's twin sister, Aurora. Rachel possesses various psionic abilities, generally exhibited through telepathy , psychometry , telekinesis , and limited time manipulation. Rachel's "virtually unlimited" telepathy allows her to receive, broadcast, and manipulate cognitive processes (such as thoughts) in an intricate manner. Examples of Rachel's aptitudes for this include creating durable mind-links across distances, projecting blasts of psionic energy that disrupt aspects of brain functioning, shielding her mind from other telepaths, creating illusions , and rendering someone imperceptible to
4200-484: A small portion of the Phoenix Force's power. The sword could only be lifted by Rook'shir's descendants. Korvus is the only known surviving descendant of Rook'shir. D'Ken Neramani, a corrupt Shi'ar ruler, attempted to use the powerful M'Kraan Crystal to take over the universe. His younger sister Lilandra and her new allies, the X-Men, foiled his plans. He was rendered comatose by the crystal and Lilandra then took over as
4368-530: A small subset who already are able to dream recover after a brief delay. The Fianden were wiped out in a mass genocide. After they were used to destroy the Fianden, the Shi'ar executed all of the natural dreamers to purge the taint from their bloodlines. Nevertheless, the trait does still emerge periodically, to continued violent repression. After leaving their world, the Shi'ar started an intergalactic Empire and forced other cultures in order to become stronger and ruled for millions of years. Such cultures included
4536-483: A space mission to stop Vulcan from laying waste to the Shi'ar empire. Xavier, who recently was stripped of his powers, recruited Rachel to serve as his telepathic "eyes and ears" during their mission. Aware of Rachel's vendetta against the Shi'ar, Xavier agreed to use their trip into space to find out who in the Shi'ar Empire gave the order to wipe out all members of the Grey family, and he warned Rachel that they will deal with
4704-489: A space ship accidentally travels to another dimension (implied to be hell ), turning the crew insane and driving them to kill each other. Some films present parallel realities that are actually different contrasting versions of the narrative itself. Commonly this motif is presented as different points of view revolving around a central (but sometimes unknowable) "truth", the seminal example being Akira Kurosawa 's Rashomon . Conversely, often in film noir and crime dramas ,
4872-471: A space-like dimension in which humans could travel with the right equipment. Wells also used the concept of parallel universes as a consequence of time as the fourth dimension in stories like The Wonderful Visit and Men Like Gods , an idea proposed by the astronomer Simon Newcomb , who talked about both time and parallel universes; "Add a fourth dimension to space, and there is room for an indefinite number of universes, all alongside of each other, as there
5040-526: A star to obliterate it. After which, Vulcan made contact with the Starjammers to call a temporary ceasefire. During the ceasefire, Rachel comes into contact with the Death Commandos again and attempts to kill them to avenge the deaths of her relatives; however, she is deterred by Polaris. In the end, all the Starjammers are captured by the Shi'ar except Rachel, Korvus, and Lilandra. Rachel and
5208-421: A starting point for speculative fiction , asking the question "What if [event] turned out differently ?". Examples of the former include Terry Pratchett 's Discworld and C. S. Lewis 's The Chronicles of Narnia , while examples of the latter include Harry Turtledove 's Worldwar series . A parallel universe—or more specifically, continued interaction between a parallel universe and our own—may serve as
Rachel Summers - Misplaced Pages Continue
5376-553: A statement by Emma Frost in Astonishing X-Men #9, most if not all Shi'ar technology is sentient . A Shi'ar "Galaxian" has stated that they have learned nearly every spoken language. The Shi'ar have multiple forms, including the High Shi'ar, used for formal events, and Shi'ar Glorkon dialect. Mostly for tactical terms or insults, the Shi'ar insert words of their language into English sentences. Traditionally,
5544-535: A sub-atomic level. She can channel this ability to create protective force fields and blasts of concussive force. By using her telekinesis to levitate herself, Marvel Girl can fly at incredible speeds. Rachel has been able to create a micro black hole , levitate an entire city for a time, sustain shields that withstood Jovian atmospheric pressures, and direct blows from Thor's hammer, Mjolnir. Moreover, Rachel's telekinetic fine-motor control has allowed her to alter molecular valences, mentally alter clothing with ease, create
5712-602: A super weapon to retaliate against the Shi'ar, while S.H.I.E.L.D. 's Avengers used a Planetkiller to attack from behind. However, A.I.M.'s weapon exploded due to overheat, and the Planetkiller was destroyed by the Annihilation Wave . The Avengers were ready to meet their end, but the Illuminati intervened used the controller disk of a rogue planet that shared the same space with Earth, while Iron Man flew to
5880-624: A telekinetic/psionic sword (much like Psylocke 's telekinetic katana), a telekinetic hammer powerful enough to knock Thor off his feet, and even rewrite human genomes. While all depictions portray Rachel as an extremely powerful telekinetic, the limitations of her hard-psi capabilities have been somewhat inconsistent. Some instances have depicted Rachel's telekinetic potential to be nigh-unlimited, whereas others have shown her struggling against, and even outmatched by, lesser developed telekinetics such as Psylocke. Marvel Girl utilizes her psionic talents in conjunction with her ability to manipulate time in
6048-624: A timeline is not explicitly stated to have been erased, it is still there. Parallel universes as a result of time travel can serve simply as the backdrop, or it may be a central plot point. The Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove , where the Confederate Army is given thousands of AK-47 rifles and ends up winning the American Civil War , is a good example of the former, while Fritz Leiber 's novel The Big Time where
6216-531: A truce of sorts during one of the team's missions in Hong Kong . Rachel and Nightcrawler began to have an attraction towards each other, kissing at one point, but nothing came of it as Nightcrawler also had an attraction to Storm at the time, who was in somewhat of a romantic "friendship" with Wolverine. Her stint with this team also included a visit to the Savage Land . In the storyline "World's End", which
6384-572: A universe where World War II ended differently would be "closer" to us than one where Imperial China colonized the New World in the 15th century. H. Beam Piper used this concept, naming it "paratime" and writing a series of stories involving the Paratime Police who regulated travel between these alternative realities as well as the technology to do so. Keith Laumer used the same concept of "sideways" time travel in his 1962 novel Worlds of
6552-420: A variety of ways. "Chronoskimming" describes her ability to temporarily transplant a person's mind and send it through time into a younger/older version, a close ancestor/descendant, or as a disembodied astral form. Rachel unconsciously emanates a fourth dimensional pulse, effectively creating a chrono-shield that protects her from changes in the timeline. She can also sense and manipulate residual psychic energy in
6720-435: A war between two alternative futures manipulating history to create a timeline that results in or realizes their own world is a good example of the latter. Subscribing to the many-worlds interpretation of Quantum Physics , alternative histories in fiction can arise as a natural phenomenon of the universe. In these works, the idea is that each choice every person makes, each leading to a different result, both occur, so when
6888-523: Is a mutant with similar abilities to her mother, including telepathy , telekinesis , and a connection to the Phoenix Force . Throughout her publication history, she has also been referred to by the monikers Marvel Girl , Rachel Grey , Phoenix , Prestige , and Mother Askani (later simply Askani ). Rachel first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #141 (Jan. 1981) and has since been affiliated with several comic book superhero teams including
Rachel Summers - Misplaced Pages Continue
7056-684: Is a biological concept whereby unrelated species acquire similar traits because they adapted to a similar environment and/or played similar roles in their ecosystems. In fiction, the concept is extended whereby similar planets will result in races with similar cultures and/or histories. Again, this is not a true parallel universe since such planets exist within the same universe as our own, but the stories are similar in some respects. Star Trek frequently explored such worlds, in episodes including " Bread and Circuses ", " The Omega Glory ", and " Miri ". The 2017 episode of British science fiction television programme Doctor Who , " The Doctor Falls ", explains
7224-410: Is a police officer in one universe and a serial killer in another, who travels to other universes to destroy versions of himself, so that he can take their energy; and FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions (2004), the main character runs away from a totalitarian nightmare, and he enters into a cyber-afterlife alternative reality. The current Star Trek films are set in an alternative universe created by
7392-433: Is assassinated, Rachel fights alongside the Starjammers against the Shi'ar Guard and Araki, who has summoned the same Shi'ar commandos that killed Rachel's family and branded her with the Shi'ar death mark. Rachel uses her powers to implode Black Cloak's head, saying, "He was the one... He killed my family," though killing him does not make her feel happier. Gladiator finishes the job by killing Araki himself. Rachel, along with
7560-448: Is assumed that the only remaining member of the Grey family now left on Earth besides Rachel is Cable. Afterward, at the graves of the Grey family, Rachel vowed a terrible vengeance on the Shi'ar and was quoted as saying, "I'm not my mom. I'm not the Phoenix. I'm my own woman. And by the time I'm done... they'll wish I was the Phoenix." The Death Commandos later tracked Rachel to the psychiatry office of Dr. Maureen Lyszinski. Rachel, with
7728-516: Is based on the premise that the essence of a being described as Satan , trapped in a glass canister and found in an abandoned church in Los Angeles, is actually an alien being that is the 'son' of something even more evil and powerful, trapped in another universe. The protagonists accidentally free the creature, who then attempts to release his "father" by reaching in through a mirror . In Event Horizon (1997), directed by Paul W. S. Anderson ,
7896-517: Is for an indefinite number of sheets of paper when we pile them upon each other." There are many examples where authors have explicitly created additional spatial dimensions for their characters to travel in, to reach parallel universes. In Doctor Who , the Doctor accidentally enters a parallel universe while attempting to repair the TARDIS console in " Inferno ". Douglas Adams , in the last book of
8064-580: Is its driving force. Not all races have the same rights in the Imperium, as the Shi'ar appear to have a disproportionate influence on its governance. It is nominally ruled over by a high council, which has representatives from a large majority of the alien races that exist within the Imperium. However, in practice, the head of the council (the Majestor or Majestrix) exercises strong executive control and can institute policy virtually by decree. The leader of
8232-440: Is mitigated by her limited training and finesse. Emma Frost was able to outflank an incredulous Rachel in a contest on the astral plane . In the same issue, Emma offered her educative services; and later still, Rachel received training from Professor Charles Xavier (while he was depowered), giving her access to his vast knowledge and expertise in telepathy. By using telekinesis, Marvel Girl can remotely manipulate matter even on
8400-408: Is not an example of a parallel universe. It is a more scientifically plausible use of hyperspace. (See wormhole .) While the use of hyperspace is common, it is mostly used as a plot device and thus of secondary importance. While a parallel universe may be invoked by the concept, the nature of the universe is not often explored. So, while stories involving hyperspace might be the most common use of
8568-647: Is now not possible to reach these worlds via conventional travel, a common trope is a portal or artifact that connects our world and the fantasy world together, examples being the wardrobe in C. S. Lewis ' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or the sigil in James Branch Cabell 's The Cream of the Jest . In some cases, physical travel is not even possible, and the character in our reality travels in
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#17327802463008736-439: Is paralleled by a "fair world" where the elves live and history echoes ours, where a major portion of the plot deals with preventing a change in interactions between the worlds. The idea of a multiverse is as fertile a subject for fantasy as it is for science fiction, allowing for epic settings and superhuman protagonists. One example of an epic and far-ranging fantasy "multiverse" is that of Michael Moorcock , who actually named
8904-549: Is part of Storm's team of Amazing X-Men who attempts to stop the Living Monolith from becoming the new Juggernaut. Rachel Grey is distrusting of Spider-Man's newly appointed position as Jean Grey School guidance counsellor. Using her telepathy she seeks to expose his secret identity only to lose that memory by being mind-wiped by Martha Johansson. Rachel is shown as a teacher at the Jean Grey Institute in
9072-519: Is populated by the daydreams of mundane people, and in Rebecca Lickiss's Eccentric Circles , an elf is grateful to Tolkien for transforming elves from dainty little creatures. These stories often place the author, or authors in general, in the same position as Zelazny's characters in Amber. Questioning, in a literal fashion, if writing is an act of creating a new world, or an act of discovery of
9240-472: Is retrieved from a band of pirates as Rogue becomes their new leader. The remaining X-Men discover they've arrived at a space station called Gul Damar which is in a state of upheaval due to the rebellion of insectoid creatures called Grad Nan Holt against their Shi'ar enslavers. They are also being pulled into an exploding sun and the entire civil war is revealed to be orchestrated by a powerful Grad Nan Holt telepath known as "Friendless." A number of battles with
9408-483: Is that you are imagining these things in the context of fiction while the physicists and mathematicians are imagining them in terms of science. I suspect it is the romantic imagination working, as it often does, perfectly efficiently in both the arts and the sciences." Unlike many science-fiction interpretations, Moorcock's Eternal Champion stories go far beyond alternative history to include mythic and sword and sorcery settings as well as worlds more similar to, or
9576-399: Is the concept of hyperspace . Used in science fiction, the concept of "hyperspace" often refers to a parallel universe that can be used as a faster-than-light shortcut for interstellar travel . Rationales for this form of hyperspace vary from work to work, but the two common elements are: Sometimes "hyperspace" is used to refer to the concept of additional coordinate axes . In this model,
9744-474: Is then invited to hold a position as senior staff member of the "Jean Grey School for Higher Learning," which was rebuilt from the Xavier Institute and has Wolverine as acting Headmaster and Kitty Pryde as Headmistress. During the events of AVX , when the X-Men on Utopia escape from the invading Avengers, Rachel contacts Cyclops to provide Hope's location. Afterwards, Rachel states that she knows
9912-516: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, Mostly Harmless , uses the idea of probability as an extra axis in addition to the classical four dimensions of space and time similar to the many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics , although according to the novel they were more a model to capture the continuity of space, time and probability. Robert A. Heinlein , in The Number of
10080-523: The Shadow King (in the guise of Professor X ). Rachel spent some time with her grandparents, bonding with her grandfather. At a family reunion with all her relatives, a commando unit under the order of the Shi'ar attacked the party, killing everyone in an effort to wipe out the Grey genome. The commando unit was unable to kill Rachel; instead, one member was able to graft a "deathmark" on her back that would allow them to find her wherever she went. It
10248-515: The Spartoi . The empire came under the threat of the "techno-organic" alien race known as the Phalanx after they infiltrated the Shi'ar Empire as the "Pure", killing tens of thousands before the X-Men fought them on the Shi'ar throneworld and separated the transmode virus from its hosts, killing most of those Phalanx. Professor X 's evil twin sister Cassandra Nova single-handedly destroys
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#173278024630010416-516: The Starjammers , to stop both Vulcan and the plot to return rulership of the empire to D'Ken. In the end, Vulcan kills his father, Corsair , and D'Ken, and assumes the throne of the Shi'ar Empire for himself, with Deathbird as his queen; Lilandra and the Starjammers now lead a resistance against Vulcan's rule. This occurs in a 12 issue arc entitled " The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire ". The civil war between Vulcan's forces and those loyal to
10584-529: The X-Mansion to protect the mutants in case any enemies used this low point to attack. Though their intentions were good this time, it reminded Rachel too much of the previous timeline when Sentinels herded mutants into concentration camps. Rachel had a short stint with newly re-formed Excalibur, reminiscent of the former team, shortly after the House of M events. She assisted the team in battling Shadow-X and
10752-587: The aristocracy , have feathers sprouting in a triangular shape away from the face, one peak on the top of the head and one peak on each side slightly over the shoulder; the other commonly seen "hairstyle" is bushy on both sides and very flat on the top. Internally, they have lightweight and hollow bones, and on their forearms there are still some vestigial feathers left of wings that were lost over millions of years of evolution. The average Shi'ar can lift 1 ton in Earth-like gravity and has far greater stamina than
10920-406: The geographic coordinate system , with travel along latitude corresponding to time travel moving through past, present and future, and travel along longitude corresponding to travel perpendicular to time and to other realities. In modern literature, parallel universes can serve two main purposes: to allow stories with elements that would ordinarily violate the laws of nature ; and to serve as
11088-410: The 2000 film The Family Man , the 2001 cult film Donnie Darko , which deals with what it terms a "tangent universe" that erupts from our own universe; Super Mario Bros. (1993) has the eponymous heroes cross over into a parallel universe ruled by humanoids who evolved from dinosaurs; The One (2001) starring Jet Li , in which there is a complex system of realities in which Jet Li's character
11256-415: The 8th Dimension , where the "8th dimension" is essentially a "phantom zone" used to imprison the villainous Red Lectroids. Uses in horror films include the 1986 film From Beyond (based on the H. P. Lovecraft story of the same name) where a scientific experiment induces the experimenters to perceive aliens from a parallel universe, with bad results. The 1987 John Carpenter film Prince of Darkness
11424-714: The Beast , Heinlein quantizes that the many parallel, fictional universes – in terms of works of fiction. He postulates that all fictional universes are accessible by the "time twister" in the air vehicle named the Gay Deceiver . Heinlein also " breaks the fourth wall " by having both Robert and his wife Virginia visit an inter-universal science-fiction-and-fantasy convention in the book's last chapter. Heinlein continues this literary conceit in The Cat Who Walks Through Walls and To Sail Beyond
11592-417: The Beast , postulated a six-dimensional universe. In addition to the three spatial dimensions, he invoked symmetry to add two new temporal dimensions, so there would be two sets of three. Like the fourth dimension of H. G. Wells' "Time Traveller," these extra dimensions can be traveled by persons using the right equipment. Perhaps the most common use of the concept of a parallel universe in science fiction
11760-551: The Beast . Fletcher Pratt and L. Sprague de Camp took the protagonist of the Harold Shea series through the worlds of Norse myth, Edmund Spenser 's The Faerie Queene , Ludovico Ariosto 's Orlando Furioso , and the Kalevala – without ever quite settling whether writers created these parallel worlds by writing these works, or received impressions from the worlds and wrote them down. In an interlude set in " Xanadu ",
11928-544: The Chameloids, Lupaks, Stygians, Strontians, Hodinn, Saurids and many more. When the Shi'ar invaded the homeworld of the Mephitisoids, they declared to bring civilization to the primitive world. However this was a lie and the Mephitisoids had technology almost equal to the Shi'ar. The Shi'ar conquered the peaceful Mephistoids stealing their technology. However, the true history was lost to legend and propaganda. When
12096-570: The Dark Phoenix. Soon after, the grudge which she had begun with Selene boiled over when Rachel secretly invaded the Hellfire Club . She did this with the intention of taking vengeance on Selene for the murders she had committed, particularly that of nightclub owner Nicholas Damiano, who had previously taken Rachel into his home after Selene had attacked her. Selene proved to be no match for Rachel's newly increased powers, but just as she
12264-644: The Eldest Scy'ar tries to stop them. Once Vulcan figures out how the Eldest is powered, he severs the connection Eldest has with his brothers, making him powerless. Once the connection is severed, the Scy'ar become disorganized, and the tide of the battle shifts to the Sh'ar. The Shi'ar then proceed to attack both the Scy'ar and the Starjammers. Meanwhile, Vulcan blasts Havok into a sun. Vulcan decides to use Finality to destroy
12432-477: The Elven world lies through a patch of mist in the woods. It was constructed when the Elven were thrown out of our world. Travel to and fro is possible by those in the know, but can have lethal consequences. Isekai is a subgenre of Japanese fantasy light novels, manga, anime, and video games revolving around a normal person being transported to or trapped in a parallel universe. Often, this universe already exists in
12600-502: The Emperor of the Shi'ar rebel's against their gods after their wanton display. In their final fit of mindless ire, the Shi'ar gods summoned the Phoenix Force to eviscerate the galaxy spiting everyone who defied them. Later after a sorrowing battle following the appeasement of the Phoenix, the former gods of the empire are taken away to the dungeons of Omnipotence City for their crimes and reckless actions. All while Kid Omega , holder of
12768-676: The Fraternity of Raptors and eventually they grew too powerful for the Empire to control. Therefore, they all were sealed in patches of dark matter throughout Shi'ar territory and their history almost completely forgotten. The story revolved around the Starjammers , the Shi'ar, the Inhumans , the Kree, the Guardians of the Galaxy , and the Nova Corps . The Shi'ar end up in conflict with
12936-489: The Imperium . More recently, novels such as Frederik Pohl 's The Coming of the Quantum Cats and Neal Stephenson 's Anathem explore human-scale readings of the "many worlds" interpretation , postulating that historical events or human consciousness spawns or allows "travel" among alternative universes. Universe 'types' frequently explored in sidewise and alternative history works include worlds whose Nazis won
13104-427: The Imperium has aggressively absorbed new cultures. Warren Ellis ' 1995 Starjammers miniseries described the story of the Shi'ar deities Sharra and K'ythri as a parable which guides the Shi'ar expansionist philosophy to other worlds: Sharra and K'ythri are the gods in marriage. The gods who didn't want to marry, but were forced into it. In marriage they found strength and in strength they found love. That's what
13272-457: The Inhumans and the Kree. After the death of Lilandra and the presumed deaths of Vulcan and Black Bolt , Gladiator assumes the throne and surrenders to the Inhumans and the Kree when the damage to the Shi'ar military is too much. During the " Infinity " storyline, it is revealed that at some point, the Shi'ar managed to take control of their own empire back from the Kree as Gladiator appears as
13440-426: The M'Kraan. Early in their history, the Shi'ar attacked them, killed a great number of their people, making the rest flee for their lives. Eventually, the Shi'ar settled on their planet, took the M'Kraan Crystal as their own, and passed down the legend of the M'Kraan Crystal as a sacred gift from their deities, Sharra & K'ythri. The M'Kraan then changed their name to Scy'ar Tal and devoted their culture and society to
13608-513: The Majestrix of the Shi'ar Empire. The X-Men, as well as most of Earth's other superheroes, have had cordial if not friendly relations with the Shi'ar Empire ever since. The Shi'ar put Reed Richards on trial for the crimes of genocide. He was guilty of reviving Galactus after he was defeated on Earth. Shortly after his revival, Galactus proceeded to consume the Skrull throneworld, resulting in
13776-402: The Phoenix Force better than anyone else on Earth and that she is living proof that it can be controlled. She also says that if the Phoenix has chosen her and that is the destiny that Hope wants, she will do everything in her power to help her. She and Iceman tell Wolverine at the school that they are going to help Cyclops in the battle. However, when Cyclops and Emma Frost begin to be corrupted by
13944-430: The Phoenix Force for stealing a portion of her life. She also rejected Rachel because she felt that Rachel's existence was a constant reminder of the dystopian future she feared could still come to pass. Eventually, however, Jean moved past those feelings and formally welcomed Rachel into her life. Rachel remained with Excalibur until an incident caused Captain Britain to be lost in the timestream. She exchanged places with
14112-540: The Phoenix echo leaves Rachel, she says "please... not now.... Mom." From this frame onward, the "hound" markings reappear on Rachel's face. In agreement with the Inhumans, the Starjammers and the Guardians of the Galaxy assault a Shi'ar vessel to free Lilandra, hoping to end the conflict while restoring her to the throne. Even without her Phoenix powers, Rachel is powerful enough to entrap Gladiator in an illusion to keep him distracted from battle. Their gambit pays off and
14280-535: The Phoenix's power, she, like the other X-Men, decide to oppose their rule. Rachel then battled against Cyclops and helped both the Avengers and X-Men in the final battle. In 2013, Marvel revealed an all new all female series simply named X-Men . Written by Brian Wood with art by Olivier Coipel, X-Men will feature an all female cast including Storm, Jubilee, Rogue, Kitty Pryde, Rachel Grey and Psylocke. The X-Men are in pursuit of Arkea, who has attempted to revive
14448-475: The Scy'ar by using the weapon to place a star in the middle of their fleet. Alex returns and, having absorbed enough power to burn him, decides to end things with Vulcan. While they battle, Rachel and Korvus try, but fail to stop the beacon that will initiate the attack by the Shi'ar. The Shi'ar Imperial Guard end Alex's battle with Vulcan by appearing with the Starjammers in captivity, threatening to kill them. Before surrendering, Alex destroys Finality. With Alex and
14616-645: The Second World War , as in The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick , SS-GB by Len Deighton , Fatherland by Robert Harris , and Earthside by Dennis E. Taylor , and worlds whose Roman Empire never fell, as in Roma Eterna by Robert Silverberg , Romanitas by Sophia McDougall , and Warlords of Utopia by Lance Parkin . The concept of counter-Earth might seem similar to
14784-465: The Shi'ar Imperium does. It marries other cultures. Shotgun weddings. There are aggressive and violent ancient traditions, such as the Rite of Arin'nn Haelar, which is a battle to the death. This rite can be invoked to settle disagreements and their outcomes are accepted by the Imperium. Their philosophy also impacts their court, as they do not recognize insanity. X-Men writer Ed Brubaker compared
14952-506: The Shi'ar are slaughtered in these inane divinity games weights heavily on Thor/Jane's conscience. Until finally after the Genesis Round, where the Shi'ar gods use dust to create Shi'ar Giants who indiscriminately murder more of their worshipers causes the female Thor to fight them. As the female Thor failed to create life, the Shi'ar won the Genesis Round. Having had enough of the murderous spectacles, Thor chose to directly challenge
15120-591: The Shi'ar empire is protected by his or her own personal guard called the Imperial Guard , which is made up of the most powerful and elite soldiers from throughout the Empire with most of them being Shi'ar and others being from other alien races in the Shi'ar's jurisdiction. The Imperial Guard is led by a praetor . The military itself (outside of the Imperial Guard) has been depicted as consisting almost exclusively of Shi'ar personnel, at least in most of
15288-598: The Shi'ar fleet to Asgard whilst threatening Earth with their Super Destroyers. An event which had been secretly instigated by Loki behind closed doors. In the Natural Disasters Round, Sharra and K'ythri use their power to cause a tidal wave in order to ferment greater worship in the survivors. Thor impedes their efforts by saving lives instead of claiming them, the round going to her as the living Shi'ar people are thankful for her mercy; much to her displeasure. Round after round where countless denizens of
15456-607: The Shi'ar gods; later receiving some unexpected help from the Asgardian Gods themselves. It was this act that tilted the Challenge of the Gods in her favor as none had ever brought so many divine under their banner to fight at their side before, causing the new Thor to be crowned winner of the Challenge. Greatly angered at such a turn of events Sharra and K'ythri order their Majestor to eviscerate her homeworld in retribution; but
15624-468: The Shi'ar known as Rook'shir was bonded to the Phoenix Force, he became Dark Phoenix and wreaked havoc across Shi'ar Empire. In order to stop him, the first Imperial Guard sent Gladiator after him, who killed him. For years all his descendants were culled, out of fear that one of them might host the Phoenix Force like their ancestor. Rook'shir left behind a sword known as the Blade of the Phoenix which contained
15792-413: The Shi'ar to Star Trek ' s Romulans , saying they are "smart, aggressive, and mean". Though the empire has grown to include hundreds of thousands of different sentient species and worlds, the Shi'ar race controls and governs the empire. Its central base of power is located on the "throneworld" Chandilar, while the Shi'ar homeworld is called Aerie (it is unknown if the planet still exists). The leader of
15960-527: The Sol's Hammer, and used it, successfully destroying the Shi'ar fleet, including the Imperial Guards. As part of the " All-New, All-Different Marvel ," it was revealed that some Shi'ar that are living on Earth have established a Shi'ar corporation called Shi'ar Solutions Consolidations. During "The Asgard/Shi'ar War" storyline, the Shi'ar Gods Sharra and K'ythri do a "Challenge of the Gods" by bringing
16128-546: The Starjammers in custody Vulcan declares that he will return the Shi'ar Empire to its former glory. Vulcan and the Shi'ar were featured prominently in the mini-series X-Men: Kingbreaker that revolved around Vulcan and the Starjammers following the conclusion of the mini-series Emperor Vulcan. This mini-series led to the War of Kings event and revealed that eons ago the Shi'ar, used dark sorcery to created and stored in Null Space
16296-481: The Starjammers play a large role in the sequel to the Emperor Vulcan miniseries called X-Men: Kingbreaker . She is also seen prominently in the " War of Kings " storyline, which features Vulcan, the Inhumans , Nova , and the Guardians of the Galaxy . While with the Starjammers, in battle with Vulcan's new guard, the fragment of the "blue" Phoenix within her and Korvus' blade mysteriously leaves them. After
16464-501: The Starjammers. However, in the middle of the battle, his ship, the Hammer, is destroyed by the Scy'ar Tal (translates as "Death to the Shi'ar"). Vulcan and Gladiator (still the praetor of his Imperial Guard) attack the leader of the Scy'ar Tal and are easily defeated, whereupon they retreat deeper into Shi'ar space. Marvel Girl makes contact with the Eldest Scy'ar Tal and discovers their true origin. The Scy'ar Tal were originally called
16632-486: The Sunset , using characters from throughout his science-fictional career, hauled forth from their own fictional universe. Heinlein also wrote a stand-alone novel, Job: A Comedy of Justice , whose two protagonists fall from alternative universe into alternative universe and after a number of such adventures die and enter a stereotypically Fundamentalist Christian Heaven (with many of its internal contradictions explored in
16800-508: The Tree of Shadows which is the repository for all of the Darkhawk amulets used to empower the Fraternity of Raptors to whom the Shi'ar intended to use to maintain the Shi'ar Empire as it evolved over the centuries. The Fraternity of Raptors refer to their mission to protect the long term interests of the empire as "The Great Purpose." However, as the Shi'ar Empire aggressively expanded so to did
16968-639: The Wasp: Quantumania . This series of universes overlaps or encompasses with universes depicted in Sony's Spider-Man Universe and the animated Spider-Verse franchise. The success of Marvel's Multiverse Saga, particularly Avengers: Endgame in 2019, led to a noticeable rise in the popularity of multiverses and shared universes in films of the early 2020s, predominantly for superhero films but also in Hollywood more broadly. Notable examples include
17136-631: The X-Men and Excalibur . In 2022, she joined the Knights of X team as part of the Destiny of X era under the leadership of Captain Britain , who takes a group of mutants under her wing leading them into the Otherworld . The title was the follow-up to the 2019's Excalibur relaunch and was written by Tini Howard . In its fourth issue, Rachel Summers and her long-time friend Betsy Braddock confessed their romantic feelings for each other and their kiss
17304-559: The X-Men's long lost enemies. The X-Men are attacked by the newly formed Sisterhood and Rachel is telepathically locked down by Madelyne Pryor . Storm strikes a deal for Rachels freedom allowing Madelyne and Selene to walk free. In the AXIS story arc, Storm sends the entire student body against the Red Onslaught in an attempt to save Earth. Rachel is shown to be reverted to her hound form by Dr. Doom and Wanda Maximoffs spell. Rachel
17472-427: The X-Men. She decided to rejoin the X-Men, taking the name "Marvel Girl" to honor her mother ( who had recently died yet again ) and wearing a costume her mother had designed but never worn: a variation on Jean's first green costume. She also changed her last name to "Grey", possibly to express disapproval at her father's betrayal of Jean, as well as his continuing relationship with Emma Frost ; though she and Emma made
17640-471: The adult Franklin Richards . Rachel managed to send Kate's consciousness into the past to her younger self to prevent the assassination, but it did not change their time. Rachel sent her astral form into the past to find out why and discovered she had sent Kate into an alternate past . On the way back, she encountered the disembodied Phoenix Force and it followed her to her present. Rachel passed out from
17808-619: The aforementioned Spider-Verse franchise, 2022's Academy Award-winning Everything Everywhere All at Once , the DC Extended Universe film The Flash , and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always . Some filmmakers and critics, including Endgame co-director Joe Russo , have expressed concern that film studios may be embracing multiverse-centric plotlines to capitalize on characters and intellectual property with pre-existing popularity, ultimately to
17976-672: The alternative narrative is a fiction created by a central character, intentionally – as in The Usual Suspects – or unintentionally – as in Angel Heart . Less often, the alternative narratives are given equal weight in the story, making them truly alternative universes, such as in the German film Run Lola Run , the short-lived British West End musical Our House and the British film Sliding Doors . More recent films that have explicitly explored parallel universes are:
18144-544: The ambiguity. Some writers depict the land of the elves as a full-blown parallel universe, with portals the only entry – as in Josepha Sherman 's Prince of the Sidhe series or Esther Friesner 's Elf Defense – and others have depicted it as the next land over, possibly difficult to reach for magical reasons – Hope Mirrlees 's Lud-in-the-Mist , or Lord Dunsany 's The King of Elfland's Daughter . In some cases,
18312-651: The assistance of the X-Men. In the 1992 crossover " Operation: Galactic Storm ," the Shi'ar annexed the Kree Empire at the end of the Kree-Shi'ar War and Deathbird was placed into a prominent position as viceroy of Hala, the Kree homeworld. However, Deathbird did not last long in this position and has since abandoned her responsibilities and it appears that the Kree Empire has, at least in some part, been re-established. The Shi'ar have had recent contact with
18480-483: The average human. Most Shi'ar have no other special abilities, though occasionally a genetic throwback appears possessing wings that allow for flight (an example of atavism ). The superhuman Shi'ar can at least lift one ton through exercise. The Wasp stated that the Shi'ar aren't stronger than humans. The Shi'ar conceive their offspring in eggs. They are nurtured in special chambers and the children are referred to as hatchlings . The Shi'ar have more chakras than
18648-530: The battle against Kenji. When Kitty Pryde returns from space to lead the X-Men, Rachel joins her team in X-Men Gold and adopts the unique, new code name Prestige. In the new status quo for mutants post House of X and Powers of X , Professor X and Magneto invite all mutants to live on Krakoa and welcome even former enemies into their fold. Rachel spends some time with her family on the Summer House,
18816-418: The big fight, Rachel shows just how powerful she is by protecting Korvus from one of Vulcan's blasts. Rachel is one of the X-Men stranded in Shi'ar space when their ship is sent back to Earth. After the death of her other grandfather, Corsair, at the hands of Vulcan, she, along with Havok, Polaris, Korvus, Ch'od, and Raza, become the new Starjammers. They elect to remain in Shi'ar space and restore Lilandra to
18984-481: The boundary between Elfland and more ordinary lands is not fixed. Not only the inhabitants but Faerie itself can pour into more mundane regions. Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series proposes that the world of the Elves is a "parasite" universe, that drifts between and latches onto others such as Discworld and our own world (referred to as "Roundworld" in the novels). In the young teenage book Mist by Kathryn James ,
19152-567: The command positions. Though having warlike and militaristic ancestry, the Shi'ar Empire has largely occupied the role of peacekeepers in many interstellar affairs. Just to name a few, Empress Lilandra Neramani tried to broker peace between the Kree Empire and the Skrull Empire to help bring an end to their devastating war: she sought interstellar accord when deciding how to end the threat of Dark Phoenix , and attempted to avenge
19320-516: The comprehension stays. In the 1980s, Lilandra and D'Ken's unstable exiled elder sibling Deathbird made several attempts to overthrow her sister from power. Deathbird even resorted to attacking Lilandra's Earth-based allies to achieve her goals. She is also responsible for initially directing the alien parasites known as the Brood towards the Earth and its heroes. Deathbird was eventually deposed with
19488-492: The concept in a 1963 science fiction novel The Sundered Worlds . Like many authors after him, Moorcock was inspired by the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics , saying, "It was an idea in the air, as most of these are, and I would have come across a reference to it in New Scientist (one of my best friends was then editor) ... [or] physicist friends would have been talking about it. ... Sometimes what happens
19656-428: The creature proves unsuccessful for Rachel, but with the combined efforts of Rogue and the X-Men they are able to defeat him and return home via the wormhole that was created from the collapsing star. Rachel as part of a team of Wolverine's X-Men attempted to psychically battle Exodus in an attempt to prevent the assassination of Cyclops. The team is eventually beaten and the X-Men are saved by Generation Hope . Rachel
19824-464: The death of billions. Uatu the Watcher , acting as his lawyer and with the help of Odin and Galactus himself, convinced the gathered tribunal that Galactus is a necessary force of betterment of the universe and is not a villain. This was done by summoning Eternity . The truth as shown by Eternity however, is so grand and overpowering that none of the tribunal's members can remember it fully, although
19992-531: The destruction of Tarnax IV, the Skrull throneworld, by Galactus . The Shi'ar consider artistic creativity to be a sign of insanity and deviance, as they lack the ability to dream. Shi'ar who have the ability to dream and create do all they can to suppress their impulses. In the past, execution was a common remedy to such 'infections'. A race called the Fianden had the ability to cause any Shi'ar to dream; this caused mass catatonia and insanity in most Shi'ar, although
20160-466: The destruction of the Shi'ar Empire. With their first attack, they destroyed Feather's Edge by transporting a star to obliterate it. After which, Vulcan makes contact with the Starjammers to call a temporary ceasefire. Under the ceasefire, the Shi'ar and the Starjammers decide to take out the Finality, thus crippling the Scy'ar's biggest threat. Once Havok and Vulcan are in position to destroy Finality,
20328-435: The dethroned Lilandra rages on. Led by Havok and the Starjammers, Lilandra's forces gradually whittle away at Vulcan's forces, which are plagued by defections. The Shi'ar, contrary to Vulcan's expectations, are not happy to have an outsider as their ruler. Vulcan is discouraged by this, but Deathbird convinces him that they will come to accept him. Warned in advance of a rebel raid on Feather's Edge, Vulcan and his fleet ambush
20496-463: The detriment of originality and creativity in filmmaking. Shi%27ar The Shi'ar ( / ʃ iː ˈ ɑːr / SHEE -ar ) are a fictional species of aliens appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . The Shi'ar Empire (or Imperium ) is a vast collection of alien species, cultures, and worlds situated close to the Skrull and Kree Empires. The Shi'ar are one of
20664-525: The different origins of the Cybermen as parallel evolution , due to the inevitability of humans and human-like species attempting to upgrade themselves through technology; this perspective resolves continuity differences in the Cybermen's history. Convergent evolution may also be due to contamination. In this case, a planet may start out differently from Earth, but due to the influence of Earth's culture,
20832-473: The empire is given the title Majestor (male) or Majestrix (female) and is a hereditary position, occupied by members of the royal family of the Shi'ar. Formerly, the Neramani family represented the royal bloodline. The Shi'ar Empire is one of the most advanced and expansive civilizations in the universe, spanning entire galaxies . It is mainly an economic co-operative, where trade with other galactic powers
21000-412: The empire, D'Ken killed Vulcan's mother Katherine Summers (also mother to longtime X-Men Scott and Alex Summers ) and made him a slave for most of his adolescent life. Bent on revenge against D'Ken, Vulcan attacks the Empire. Not only that, but within the empire, there is a coup to dethrone Lilandra and return D'Ken to power, with the aid of Deathbird. The X-Men once again team up with their space allies,
21168-521: The familiar material realm. Plato reflected deeply on parallel realities, resulting in the worlds of Platonism , in which the upper reality is perfect while the lower (earthly) reality is an imperfect shadow of the heavenly equivalent. One of the first science-fiction examples of a parallel universe is Murray Leinster 's short story Sidewise in Time , published in 1934, which portions of alternative universes replace corresponding geographical regions in this universe. Sidewise in Time analogizes time to
21336-399: The fantasy world. Before the mid-20th century, this was most often done by hiding fantastic worlds within unknown, distant locations on Earth; peasants who seldom, if ever, traveled far from their villages could not conclusively say that it was impossible that an ogre or other fantastical beings could live an hour away. Characters in the author's world could board a ship and find themselves on
21504-474: The first film's villain traveling back in time, thus allowing the franchise to be rebooted without affecting the continuity of any other Star Trek film or show. The 2011 science-fiction thriller Source Code employs the concepts of quantum reality and parallel universes. The characters in The Cloverfield Paradox , the third installment of the franchise , accidentally create a ripple in
21672-473: The five senses. In addition, Rachel has demonstrated the ability to telepathically suppress superpowers; control, repair, and exchange minds; as well as safely editing memories. Rachel has also harnessed her telepathy to sense, locate, and track other sentient beings based on their thought patterns, but has a moral apprehension about using this skill due to her experiences as a Hound. It has been suggested that Rachel's telepathy, although immeasurable in raw power,
21840-436: The form of psychometry . Parallel universe (fiction) A parallel universe , also known as an alternate universe , parallel world , parallel dimension , alternate reality , or alternative dimension , is a hypothetical universe co-existing with one's own, typically distinct in some way. The sum of all potential parallel universes that constitute reality is often called the " multiverse ". Another common term for
22008-528: The fourth wall ), and even travel to a world – twice – in which (again, within the novel) they meet Stephen King and alter events in the real Stephen King's world outside of the books. An early instance of this was in works by Gardner Fox for DC Comics in the 1960s, in which characters from the Golden Age (which was supposed to be a series of comic books within the DC Comics universe) would cross over into
22176-474: The group is able to free Lilandra. Rachel is next seen as Lilandra's bodyguard along with the rest of the Starjammers. On the home planet of the Shi'ar, Lilandra assumes her throne, but while making a ceremonial gesture is killed by the murderer known as Razor, who possesses the Darkhawk armor. The only person who perceives this is Rachel, since Razor is shielded from the perceptions of others. After Lilandra
22344-555: The help of Psylocke , Nightcrawler, Bishop , and Cannonball , saved the doctor and took down the Death Commandos. She decided to imprison them, instead of killing them, by telling them, "I mean to find destiny in a way that brings us both [Jean Grey] honor." She is also sometimes referenced as "Starchilde" in this series. After Rachel was kidnapped, along with Cyclops, by her paternal uncle Vulcan , he freed Darwin from inside him. Later, Professor X recruited Rachel, along with Havok , Nightcrawler, Warpath , Darwin, and Polaris , for
22512-475: The idea of another " dimension " has become synonymous with the term "parallel universe". The usage is particularly common in movies, television and comic books and much less so in modern prose science fiction. The idea of a parallel world was popularized in comic books with the publication of The Flash No. 123, Flash of Two Worlds in 1961. In written science fiction, "new dimension" more commonly—and more accurately—refer to additional coordinate axes , beyond
22680-459: The land in which the confrontation takes place – at other times the otherworldly aspects are clear. Most frequently, time can flow differently for those trapped by the fairy dance than in the lands they come from; although, in an additional complication, it may only be an appearance, as many returning from Faerie, such as Oisín , have found that time "catches up" with them as soon as they have contact with ordinary lands. Fantasy writers have taken up
22848-467: The main DC Comics universe. One comic book did provide an explanation for a fictional universe existing as a parallel universe. The parallel world does "exist" and it resonates into the "real world". Some people in the "real world" pick up on this resonance, gaining information about the parallel world which they then use to write stories. Robert Heinlein introduces an extension of his Future History series called The World as Myth . In The Number of
23016-655: The new residence of the Summers Family, located on the Moon. Soon after X (Xavier) is killed by bioengineered human terrorists, Cyclops gathers Rachel and Kid Cable for a mission on the Atlantic Ocean regarding a piece of their new homeland of Krakoa. Later, she joins Polaris, Daken, Northstar and former X-students Eye-Boy and Prodigy in a new initiative in Krakoa: they are to investigate any mutant death and prepare
23184-589: The novel). Elfland , or Faerie, the otherworldly home not only of elves and fairies but goblins , trolls , and other folkloric creatures, has an ambiguous appearance in folklore. On one hand, the land often appears to be contiguous with 'ordinary' land. Thomas the Rhymer might, on being taken by the Queen of Faerie, be taken on a road like one leading to Heaven or Hell. This is not exclusive to English or French folklore. In Norse mythology , Elfland ( Alfheim )
23352-460: The original timeline with a new one. As a result, travel between alternative histories is not possible without reverting the timeline back to the original. There are exceptions to the above, and an alternate history doesn't necessarily overwrite the old one. There are no rules written in stone regarding this. Modern ideas of time travel pose the idea of branching timelines, such as the 2009 Star Trek reboot and Avengers: Endgame . Technically, if
23520-501: The parallel universe concept in fiction, it is not the most common source of fiction about parallel universes. Time travel can result in multiple universes if a time traveller can change the past. In one interpretation, alternative histories as a result of time travel are not parallel universes: while multiple parallel universes can co-exist simultaneously, only one history or alternative history can exist at any one moment, as alternative history usually involves, in essence, overriding
23688-403: The people responsible for her recent losses Xavier's way. While in space, the team was attacked by Korvus , a Shi'ar warrior sent to kill Rachel. Korvus' ancestor, Rook'shir, was a previous host of the Phoenix Force, and a small portion of the Phoenix's power was left behind in his sword, the Blade of the Phoenix. With this power, Korvus made short work of the other X-Men, but when Rachel blocked
23856-477: The planet comes to resemble Earth in some way. Star Trek also frequently used this theory as well, for example, in " Patterns of Force " and " A Piece of the Action ". Simulated realities are digital constructs featured in science fiction such as The Matrix or The Thirteenth Floor which can parallel ours very closely. It is common in fantasy for authors to find ways to bring a protagonist from "our" world to
24024-469: The possibilities of even greater dimensions. Isaac Asimov , in his foreword to the Signet Classics 1984 edition, described Flatland as "The best introduction one can find into the manner of perceiving dimensions". In 1895, The Time Machine by H. G. Wells used time as an additional "dimension" in this sense, taking the four-dimensional model of classical physics and interpreting time as
24192-507: The professional ethics of Pauline, a nurse forced into Nazi collaboration. Another common use of the theme is as a prison for villains or demons . The idea is used in the first two Superman movies starring Christopher Reeve where Kryptonian villains were sentenced to the Phantom Zone from where they eventually escaped. An almost exactly parallel use of the idea is presented in the film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across
24360-611: The protagonist's world as a fictional universe, but it may also be unbeknownst to them. The most famous treatment of the alternative universe concept in film could be considered The Wizard of Oz , which portrays a parallel world, famously separating the magical realm of the Land of Oz from the mundane world by filming it in Technicolor while filming the scenes set in Kansas in sepia . In Frank Capra's 1946 Christmas classic, It's
24528-421: The relationships between them can vary quite dramatically, but the essence of them remains the same." There are many examples of the meta-fictional idea of having the author's created universe (or any author's universe) rise to the same level of "reality" as the universe we're familiar with. The theme is present in works as diverse as H. G. Wells' Men Like Gods , Myers' Silverlock , and Heinlein's Number of
24696-434: The rest of the Starjammers, regroup later on and mourn the Shi'ar, as they doubt that they will recover from this war. It is known through Ch'od , and apparently due to the incident where she and Korvus both lost the connection to the Phoenix Force, that Rachel and Korvus, along with Havok and Polaris , have departed for Earth. While on the way back to Earth, Rachel attempted to contact Professor Xavier or Emma Frost with
24864-535: The same as, our own. The term 'polycosmos' was coined as an alternative to 'multiverse' by the author and editor Paul le Page Barnett (also known by the pseudonym John Grant), and is built from Greek rather than Latin morphemes . It is used by Barnett to describe a concept binding together a number of his works, its nature meaning that "all characters, real or fictional [...] have to co-exist in all possible real, created or dreamt worlds; [...] they're playing hugely different roles in their various manifestations, and
25032-461: The same color as the Blade of the Phoenix. She then telekinetically disabled an explosive implant that the Shi'ar chancellor was using to force Korvus' obedience. Due to Rachel's connection to Korvus through the sword, she discovers the Phoenix Force formerly in the blade is just an echo, a "blue shadow", of the Force. The shadow of the Phoenix begins influencing Rachel's behavior, causing her to design
25200-441: The strain of astral projection and the Phoenix Force revealed itself to Kate, who asked it to give Rachel a fresh start. When Rachel and Kate broke into "Project: Nimrod " on a suicide mission to destroy a new model of Sentinel, they became trapped. When Kate spoke the words "Dark Phoenix," the Phoenix Force ripped Rachel from her timeline and sent her body back to the alternate past to which she had sent Kate's consciousness. This
25368-486: The sword, their minds were involuntarily linked. Through this link, Rachel learned that Korvus' family was also murdered by the Shi'ar government because of their connection to the Phoenix. The remaining echo of the Phoenix power from the sword was then transferred to Rachel. Rachel claimed that rather than having taken the power, the power chose to go to her, saying, "The Phoenix knows me, remember? It likes me." When this happened, Rachel's normally gold energy aura turned blue,
25536-633: The three main extraterrestrial empires depicted in the Marvel Universe , alongside the Kree and Skrulls . The Shi'ar first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #97 (Feb. 1976) and were created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Dave Cockrum . The Shi'ar are cold-blooded humanoids of avian descent; they resemble humans with feathered crests atop their heads in lieu of hair. Two different styles are common: most Shi'ar, particularly those of
25704-558: The three spatial axes with which we are familiar. By proposing travel along these extra axes, which are not normally perceptible , the traveller can reach worlds that are otherwise unreachable and invisible. In 1884, Edwin A. Abbott wrote the seminal novel exploring this concept called Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions . It describes a world of two dimensions inhabited by living squares, triangles, and circles, called Flatland, as well as Pointland (0 dimensions), Lineland (1 dimension), and Spaceland (three dimensions) and finally posits
25872-484: The throne or die trying. As her uncle states, "If they fail, he has no doubt that Vulcan will head for Earth." During the conflict, the Starjammers find another threat in the form of the Scy'ar Tal (translates as "Death to the Shi'ar"). Rachel makes contact with the eldest Scy'ar Tal and discovers their true origin. The Scy'ar Tal were originally called the M'Kraan. Early in their history, the Shi`ar attacked them, killing
26040-458: The time-lost Captain Britain and emerged two thousand years in the future, in a world conquered by Apocalypse and crushed under his iron fist. She gathered together a group of rebels and founded the Askani . She trained one of her followers to travel back in time and bring her "brother" Nathan forward in time when he was infected with a techno-organic virus . The Askani cloned Nathan in case he
26208-506: The time-space continuum and travel into an alternative universe, where the monster and the events in the first film transpired. This concept has been also been passively depicted in the view of a romantic couple in the Indian Tamil Film Irandam Ulagam . In the 2000 film The Beach , Leonardo DiCaprio's character Richard, while sitting on the beach with love interest Françoise ( Virginie Ledoyen ), describes
26376-475: The timeline to retrieve Rachel. There, he discovered a Rachel sans Phoenix Force. With the premature death of Apocalypse, the Askani timeline had been diverged from the mainstream Marvel Universe, Earth-616 . As a result, she had been flung into the far future, yet subjectively a short time after she had been lost in the timestream, as the slave of a creature called "Gaunt", who had used her to lead Cable there for
26544-409: The two of them touch, Rogue sees a vision of where Rachel, Havok and Polaris are as Rachel then returns to her body. When she awakens she is met by an unseen villain holding a gun and telling her he has killed her friends. Borrowing one of Legion 's manifold powers, Rogue teleports alongside Gambit , Magneto and Frenzy to rescue their teammates on the other side of the galaxy. Once there, Rachel
26712-410: The universe is thought to be "crumpled" in some higher spatial dimension, and that traveling in this higher spatial dimension, a ship can move vast distances in the common spatial dimensions. An analogy is to crumple a newspaper into a ball and stick a needle straight through: the needle will make widely spaced holes in the two-dimensional surface of the paper. While this idea invokes a "new dimension", it
26880-867: The utopia they have found in Thailand as their own parallel universe. Following its introduction in the film Doctor Strange , the multiverse became central to the Multiverse Saga series of superhero films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe , being depicted in Avengers: Endgame , Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings , Spider-Man: No Way Home , Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness , and Ant-Man and
27048-406: The wrath of Rachel Summers , the daughter of Jean Grey and Scott Summers from an alternate future, who has since declared vengeance on the entire Shi'ar Empire. Recent events seem to indicate the Shi'ar Council was responsible for this, and that Lilandra is unaware of what has been done in her name. Another Shi'ar threat comes from an X-Men villain called Vulcan . During his tenure as majestor of
27216-401: Was a past where she learned Jean Grey was dead and that her father was married to someone else. Rachel experienced additional heartache and displacement trauma when she discovered that her father's new wife, Madelyne Pryor , was pregnant with a son ( Nathan Summers ), because in her timeline she was the first-born child of Scott Summers. Rachel had a brief membership in the X-Men before finding
27384-472: Was abducted by operatives working for Ahab, who used drugs and hypnotherapy to turn Rachel into the mutant-hunting " Hound ". She fulfilled her duties, but her psychic powers linked her to her victims; fueling her grief and despair until she attacked Ahab and scarred him. In return, he sent her to the mutant concentration camps . There, she befriended the surviving mutant rebels, including Wolverine , Magneto , Colossus , Storm , Kate Pryde , and her lover,
27552-465: Was about to finish Selene, Wolverine arrived and was forced to stab Rachel in the chest. Critically injured, Rachel was lured into Spiral 's "Body Shoppe." Months later, while recuperating from injuries on Muir Island , Shadowcat and Nightcrawler both had the same dream, where they were actors and helped Rachel, who was trapped there, escape. Shortly thereafter, Rachel escaped from the alternate reality of Mojoworld . Rachel has once been cited having
27720-435: Was also the name of what today is the Swedish province of Bohuslän . In the sagas, it said that the people of this petty kingdom were more beautiful than other people, as they were related to the elves , showing that not only the territory was associated with elves, but also the race of its people. While sometimes folklore seems to show fairy intrusion into human lands – " Tam Lin " does not show any otherworldly aspects about
27888-443: Was heavily criticized by readers, Rachel was subjected to the mind-control of a tribe of advanced dinosaur people, the Hauk'ka, causing her to believe she belonged to their species. Afterward, she subconsciously used her telekinesis to change her own genome in their image. This was eventually reverted. After House of M and Decimation , where most of the world's mutants lost their powers, the government had Sentinels instituted at
28056-547: Was not able to survive the virus. Apocalypse's followers attacked the Askani and took the clone (who would later become the supervillain Stryfe ), leaving Rachel critically injured. Hooked up to life support, she drew the minds of Scott and Jean into the future, as "Slym" and "Redd", to raise Nathan and tutor him in the use of his powers. Rachel finally died ten years later and sent Scott and Jean back to their original bodies seconds after they had left. After Nathan, now known as Cable , had finally defeated Apocalypse, he went into
28224-419: Was shown in a splash page . Rachel Anne Summers comes from an alternate future Earth known as Earth-811, as seen in the " Days of Future Past " storyline from The Uncanny X-Men #141–142. In this reality, the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly provoked the ratification of the Mutant Registration Act , leading to a dystopian future where the mutant-hunting Sentinel robots rule North America. Rachel
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