When it comes to cataclysmic supervillains, Clyde Wyncham, nicknamed Marquis of Death, is one of the characters who has appeared in Mark Millar’s works, such as “Marvel 1985,” “Kick-Ass,” and his runs on “Fantastic Four” and “Old Man Logan.” This near-omnipotent creature has the ability to alter both time and reality as it journeys across the multiverse, annihilating planets one by one.
He was so powerful in the Fantastic Four that Reed Richards had no choice but to develop a device to put Clyde in a coma. He developed a thirst for death after being unleashed, gained even more strength, and lost his humanity. He scavenged across the cosmos, unleashing his wrath on the planet’s inhabitants, and was frequently opposed by various Fantastic Four versions. Let us take a closer look at Clyde Wyncham, the Marquis of Death’s beginnings.
PAST HISTORY OF CLYDE WYNCHAM AKA MARQUIS OF DEATH
Clyde Wyncham is the only mutant that has ever lived in his universe. The Marquis of Death’s series started with him as a little kid called Clyde Wyncham, who was the Universe’s one and only Mutant. Marvel 1985 tells his story. He was a troubled young man who lived in a big home with his mother, Mrs. Wyncham. She wasn’t a kind mother, and she was often afraid of the boy. This was due to the fact that he appeared to have unusual special powers that he was unable to control. Clyde’s only pleasure was playing with his boyhood pal Jerry.
However, Clyde and his mother soon vanished, as did their whole home. The mansion reappeared a few days later, but there was no trace of Clyde or his mother. Since then, no one has set foot in the mansion. Clyde lived within the house for years, undiscovered to everyone. Clyde provoked an inter-dimensional tragedy in 1985 that rocked both his homeworld and a reality comparable to Earth-616 to their very cores, causing Clyde’s mental state to degenerate even worse. It also brought supervillains from that universe to Clyde’s reality.
Fortunately, the criminals were stopped by several superheroes who pursued the culprits, owing to Toby, Jerry’s little son’s warning. Clyde seemed to vanish once more, and he was no longer seen. Nonetheless, Reed Richards apprehended and imprisoned Clyde on Earth-616 in Area-87, where, in addition to a helmet meant to provide Clyde with an eternity of blissful dreams, his God-like reality modifying talents were repressed by his own internal brain injury.
BIRTH OF REALITY-KILLER MARQUIS OF DEATH
After several years, Area-87 was attacked without notice by some of Reed Richards’ worst foes, all of whom tried to murder Clyde, but in their hubris, they awakened Clyde and mistakenly restored his memory. Clyde slaughtered all of the baddies with a single thought, reawakening his unquenchable need for destruction. Clyde developed into a totally new entity after dedicating a billion years of his eternal existence to studying how to dominate both Time and Space, and so The Marquis of Death was created.
He wandered around The Multiverse as The Marquis, wiping out every Universe he came into touch with until he landed on Earth-616 and met a young man called Victor Von Doom. The Marquis of Death sensed Doom’s potential to grow into something bigger than he was. As a result, he hired Victor as an apprentice and taught him all he knew. After completing his training at Doom, The Marquis of Death left Earth-616 and continued his murderous journey for another two decades, gaining yet another Apprentice.
The Marquis of Death and his new apprentice landed on “Earth-One Dimension Away,” another world where Reed Richards and The Human Torch, also known as Jack Storm in this Reality, are wedded. Shortly after his arrival, The Apprentice asked The Marquis of Death which race they would eliminate first: humans or insects. The Marquis lost no time in deciding that Humanity would be the first to go.
Apart from Reed Richards, his husband Jack, and the Sun, The Marquis of Death and The Apprentice wiped off practically every living creature in the Universe in a short period of time. The Marquis of Death tormented Reed by telling him about how he burnt his sister-in-law, The Invisible Woman, to death in the most heinous way conceivable. He continued the onslaught by telling how he smashed The Thing into stones with his bare hands as well. When the shocked Reed questioned The Marquis of Death why he had committed this, he took Reed by the chest and explained the very simple nature of the matter by ripping Reed’s heart out of his chest and devouring it.
After dragging himself out of the wreckage and seeing his husband’s death, Jack made one last desperate effort to take down The Marquis of Death and The Apprentice, only to have his neck severed by The Marquis’ telekinetic talents. So When Marquis of Death asked The Apprentice if there was anything else to murder before they went on to the next realm, The Apprentice pointed to the Sun and requested him to make “her” scream since he enjoyed it when “they” screamed.
The Marquis of Death reminded The Apprentice that he always made them scream, and then by just raising his hand into the air and making it glow with a foreboding blue aura, The Marquis of Death forced the Sun to become a supernova, heralding the eventual doom of “Earth-One Dimension Away”.
Taking a moment to wallow in the grandeur of obliterating a whole Universe, the two Universe-annihilating lunatics raised their arms towards the Heavens and watched as the darkness engulfed everything. When The Marquis of Death realized that their next stop would be Earth-616 and that they would be visiting his former student, Victor Von Doom, he was taken aback and thought the encounter would be quite fascinating.
THE MARQUIS OF DEATH IS THE REAL MASTER OF DR. DOOM
Dr. Doom began planning a lavish party for The Marquis of Death’s arrival based on the events of Dark Avengers. Meanwhile, the body of an alternate Uatu the Watcher washed ashore on a beach and was carried back to the Baxter Building for a postmortem after being suspected of being assassinated at the hands of The Marquis of Death. The Marquis’ special ability is shown to be alien in nature.
Back in Latveria, Doom’s party was coming to a close. Ultimately, Doom’s Masters, The Marquis of Death, and his Apprentice arrive in front of the awestruck audience. Doom, too, falls to his knees in front of the two towering deities. Doom inquired of The Marquis whether he approved of his many, heinous accomplishments. The Marquis of Death is not pleased, and after supposedly eliminating Doom, he sets out to provide Earth-616 with a better type of enemy.
Doom, on the other hand, survives and rises from the ruins of a fallen edifice, dismissing The Marquis’ basic flame strike. Frustrated, the Marquis of Death launched a strong surge of energy on Doom. Doom surged on, bragging that he was no longer a complete amateur, that he had done and seen things that The Marquis could not imagine, and that he was going to make The Marquis of Death feel his fury, and so on. The two erstwhile comrades are at odds.
THE OMEGA BOX
Doom, together with practically every hero and villain on the planet, launched a six-week war against The Marquis of Death and The Apprentice. Many of Earth’s Mightiest, including Reed Richards, was murdered. Doom, on the other hand, was able to capture The Marquis of Dying using a contraption known as “The Omega Box” after much fight and death. The enormous catastrophe was followed by five years of peace and reconstruction. Even the once-horrible Doctor Doom discovered peace, ushering in a new golden age.
His science and research cured cancer and all other diseases. The world was soon a better place than it had been when The Marquis came. Doom and The Invisible Woman wedded during this affluent epoch, and she became impregnated with his kid. Doom erected a magnificent memorial to Reed Richards, recognizing his courage and bravery not just during the struggle against The Marquis of Death, but throughout his life.
Things couldn’t have turned out any better for Doom. When Doom’s wife, The Invisible Woman, inquired whether he was overjoyed, he replied that he had never been happier, and it was disclosed that she had been The Apprentice all along. The Marquis of Death then appeared from the mysterious Omega Box and informed Doom that less than five seconds had gone and that Doom was still blazing on the earth. The Marquis explained his intention to show Doctor Doom the “ideal existence,” just to take it all away from him, making the defeat all the more terrible.
The Marquis of Death then unleashes a tremendous energy explosion that destroys Latveria’s entire capital city as well as an obscene amount of the remainder of the little country. As Doom’s heart hardened to stone and his blood turned to acid, the Marquis shifted his focus to him and teased him. The Marquis then ordered The Apprentice to open a time-rift into The Pliocene Age, where he threw Doom’s dying body into a primordial ocean.
Doom’s body was devoured by a massive Megalodon. Upon reflecting on their first summit with Doom, The Apprentice proposed that The Marquis regain his honor by commencing The Slaughter, the destruction of the entire Earth-616 universe. However, The Marquis of Death decided otherwise, and after placing the tattered remnants of Doom’s mask on his own face, The Marquis described that he would regain his honor by correcting all of Victor’s mistakes, beginning with The Fantastic Four.
The Marquis of Death and his Apprentice then came to New York in order to eliminate the Fantastic Four. Despite his claims that he had come to murder them, the Marquis intended to torment the Fantastic Four before annihilating them. Even if they couldn’t stop him, the Fantastic Four assured the Marquis that somebody would. In his hubris, The Thing remarked that if everyone else failed, it would be his Aunt Petunia’s turn to beat The Marquis of Death. The Marquis forced The Thing to watch helplessly as he mercilessly murdered Petunia Grimm in return for The Thing’s disdain.
Johnny made a Mockery Marquis’ face, still indignant. The Marquis then presented Johnny every Sue he’d slain over the years. The Marquis then subjected Reed to a series of trials, refusing to relent. The Marquis offers to save Earth-616 in exchange for Reed killing his son, Franklin. When Reed rejected, the Marquis offered Ben Grimm, who Reed also declined. The Marquis of Death even offered his younger self as a third option, but Reed rejected it once more since the Clyde who was living on Earth-616 could not be held guilty for the sins of another version.
The Marquis of Death then returned Reed to the Baxter Building, where he was assaulted by different versions of the Fantastic Four from all around the Multiverse. It is subsequently discovered that Doom had really survived The Marquis’ attack. Dr. Doom lingered for years in the past, utilizing all of his knowledge and power. He subsequently became the Marquis’ Apprentice and waited for the Maquis to be weak enough for Doom to exact his wrath. This happened on Earth-616 when he met Mr. Fantastic.
WHAT MAKES THE MARQUIS OF DEATH SO DANGEROUS?
The Marquis of Death is a reality-warper with near-omnipotent power who has demonstrated a variety of powers. Having survived the demise of numerous universes, he is immune to annihilation. Immense illusion-casting, tricking Doom into believing he was triumphant and living in a great “paradise” for years when, in fact, just 5 seconds had passed and Marquis gladly destroyed the illusion to ridicule Doom.
He has the Capability to transmit memories of events he caused throughout the cosmos- such as compelling as the Human Torch to see every single way he murdered Susan Storm across numerous realities. Immunity against aging is a result of traveling billions of years across several worlds. with a single hand motion, capable of wiping out whole forces of heroes and villains, Capable of producing supernovae in all-stars in a particular universe with relatively little effort, ending in the universe’s extinction.
Other alterations, such as converting Doom’s heart to stone and his blood to acid. Mastery over time, capable of flinging Doom back millions of years. Manipulation of abstract things such as Eternity and Death, allowing him to build his own. Near-omniscient knowledge of limitless worlds and timelines.
THEY CALL MARQUIS OF DEATH THE FANTASTIC FOUR’S VERSION OF THANOS
The Fantastic Four require a big adversary to enter the MCU, and the reality-killing Marquis of Death is a natural step up from Thanos. The Fantastic Four already have the perfect nemesis for their MCU debut, delivering fans, an opponent seen on the big screen before, but whose multiversal powers make them a deserving addition by improving even on the threat Thanos brought to the Marvel Universe.
Although being the first superhuman team conceived by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and thus the heralds of a new era for Marvel Comics, the First Family have yet to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe due to their rights remaining outside of Disney’s control until 2019. While Doctor Doom and Galactus are both legendary Fantastic Four villains, neither is well-suited to Marvel’s multiversal narrative strategy, as shown in the recent Loki TV program and the impending Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
But the FF has one neglected adversary worthy of exploration, even among terrifying dangers like Thanos and Kang the Conqueror, and one who would help them establish their position with Marvel’s other cinematic heroes. The villain in question is the Marquis of Death, a villain who has the ability to control both time and reality and who travels around the universe murdering one planet after another. Clyde Wyncham Jr., a reality-warping mutant so strong that Reed Richards, nicknamed Mister Fantastic, saw no choice but to develop a device that kept him in a coma and delighted him with dreams of Marvel’s heroes, was formerly the Marquis of Death.
Unfortunately, after being set free by an alliance of the Fantastic Four’s enemies, Wyncham retaliated by murdering the villains and gaining a taste for death. So started Wyncham’s billion-year journey throughout the universe, during which he gained even more strength while losing his humanity, systematically murdering countless worlds and facing up against each universe’s version of the Fantastic Four.
In Fantastic Four, written by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch, the Marquis of Death comes to Earth-616, revealing that he is Doctor Doom’s previous master. The Marquis of Death, who has recently taken on a mystery new apprentice, is dismissive of Doom’s achievements, viciously wounding him and then flinging him back through time. The Marquis of Death and his new apprentice then assault the Fantastic Four, tormenting Reed Richards with a series of macabre agreements to win the day The final of which is to murder the original Clyde Wyncham Jr. before he becomes the Marquis.
Mister Fantastic, a real hero, refuses these agreements, instead of liberating the innocent Wyncham, who uses his love of Marvel’s heroes to drain the Marquis of much of his power. The Fantastic Four then pull strength from alternate versions of the team, to defeat the adversary. Despite no longer being a threat, the Marquis of Death is brutally murdered by his new pupil, who is disclosed to be a veiled Doctor Doom, who withstood the Marquis’ attack and prepared for millennia to exact his revenge.
By presenting the Marquis’ propensity of killing the Fantastic Four in every reality, the narrative allows us to see what the team may become while still establishing them at the beginning of their careers, and it also allows us to see Doctor Doom while also depicting one of his greatest triumphs. Wyncham using Marvel’s past to battle the Marquis, gives the MCU’s now-established heritage, and as a reality-warping superhuman, it would even be a simple way to bring the X-Men to the movies.
Most crucially, a monster who wipes out the whole universes for pleasure is both a suitable escalation from Thanos and a cinematic enemy who can delve into the Fantastic Four’s history, present, and future to guarantee their MCU premiere is as epic as it- is unique.