Source Material - SBTU “In Time” Event - Timequake Part Five

It ends where it began: with a choice, a ripple—and a watcher who broke the rules.

In the stunning conclusion to Timequake, Jesse brings The Source Material Comics Podcast full circle with a deep dive into What If...? #39—an explosive finale to Marvel’s most mind-bending multiverse saga. As timelines fracture and the Time Variance Authority scrambles, one question looms: can the multiverse be saved, or is it already too far gone?

This episode—part of the Super Blog Team-Up: In Time event—unleashes the consequences of the Time Keepers’ manipulation, the rise of Immortus, and the desperate gambit to change destiny before it cements into catastrophe. Familiar faces like Thor, Dr. Doom, Irondroid, and Vampire Lord Wolverine return, joined by alternate Fantastic Fours, and shadowy councils..

As Jesse unpacks the chaos, deception, and ultimate restoration of the time stream, the truth becomes clear: sometimes the only way to save reality is to challenge the very laws that built it.
Make sure to check out other participants in the SBTU event by typing in #SBTU or #SuperBlogTeamUp in your favorite social media platform.

Here’s the list of who is participating so far and what they are bringing to the table!:

Between The Pages Blog
When Scooby-Doo met the Flintstones and the Jetsons
https://www.betweenthepagesblog.com/2025/07/scooby-doo-meets-the-flintstones-and-jetsons.html
Partying with the Flintstones and the Jetsons
https://www.betweenthepagesblog.com/2025/07/partying-with-the-flintstones-and-the-jetsons.html

Superhero Satellite - Hex Communications https://charltonhero.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/hex-style/

Daves Comic Heroes BlogSuperman And Superboy Switch
https://davescomicheroes.blogspot.com/2025/07/superman-and-superboy-switch.html

The Telltale Mind: Time and Time Again - The Man Who Lived Forever!
https://thetelltalemind.com/2025/07/30/time-and-time-again-the-man-who-lived-forever/

Asterisk51 - Squirrel Girl Masters Time Travel
https://asterisk51.blogspot.com/2025/07/squirrel-girl-masters-time-travel.html

And make sure to listen to the full unofficial “Timequake” Reading Soundtrack at Suno by following this link - https://suno.com/playlist/71d48109-0a44-4019-8ec7-fe14b7bf0475

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Okay, we are getting into our fifth and final part
of Time Quake What If issue number thirty nine, What
If the Watcher Saved the Multiverse? Written by Roy Thomas,
penciled by Gavin Curtis, inked by Ian Aiken, lettered by
Janis Shang, and colored by Ed Lari. So we pick

(00:25):
up our story in this issue at the colossal bureaucracy
of the Time Variance Authority, where rows of identical, faceless
clerks go about their cosmic duties. The Watcher Uatu sits
patiently among them in what essentially is.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
A celestial waiting room.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
He reflects on the TVA's purpose maintaining the balance of
the multiverse and overseeing key individuals crucial to reality survival. Now, however,
he waits not as the Watcher, but he remarks dryly
as a waiter.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
He's called in the meet.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
With a deputy secretary who's covering for the time Zone
manager currently on vacation. The deputy admits that he's not
thrilled with the situation, but has been instructed to allow
access to their operations due to the Timekeeper's crisis. All
cosmic oaths, including Latu's usual non interference directive have been suspended,
at least temporarily. The Watcher is invited to suggest a resolution,

(01:25):
as the situation is dire. The Timekeepers had tried to
eliminate four crucial nexus beings to reshape reality, but thanks
to Uatu's interference, the Whisperer's true identity, I Mortis was revealed.
I Mortis had manipulated everything, drawing agents like Irondroid Thor
and a vampire wolverine to help destabilize the multiverse and

(01:46):
ciphon energy from alternate timelines. With that power, he has
become something beyond human, a quantum wave spreading through realities,
threatening to rewrite the multiverse and crown himself the master
of all time.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Time.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
The Deputy Secretary grimly acknowledges that if a Mortis isn't stopped,
the entire TVA could collapse, jobs and indeed all of
reality hang in the balance. Uatu agrees, noting that as
timelines were thrown out of sync, the three Timekeepers ceased
to exist one by one. Luatu, the Watcher, still embroiled

(02:22):
in his investigation of the Timekeepers and the collapsing multiverse,
converses with a TVA official about the origins of the
mysterious Temporable Guardians. He's surprised they were ever entrusted with
such immense power. The official explains. It all began with
a being known only as He Who Remains, the last
Director of the TVA, existing at the very end of time.

(02:45):
His intent had been noble to create caretakers for the
next cycle of the universe, but his first attempt, the
Time Twisters, turned out to be disastrously flawed, traveling backward
through time and annihilating entire eras before they even occurred.
It took the intervention of heroes like Thor and Zarko
the Tomorrow Man to help convince He who Remains that

(03:06):
the Time Twisters were a failed experiment. With a heavy heart,
He Who Remains erased them from existence and created the
Timekeepers instead. But now, in the wake of Immortis's interference
and the collapse of four alternate realities, the TVA must
act decisively and immediately to prevent their own annihilation. Cut

(03:26):
to a TVA emergency session, officials more bureaucrats than warriors
gathered to discuss the escalating anti Immortis campaign. One assistant
deputy brags about a public awareness initiative featuring posters, t
shirts and slogans like just say no to a Mortis
down with quantum Waves. Another, however, suggests a more direct

(03:49):
plan to strike at the origins of Immortis himself. To
accomplish this, they have recruited the same four alternate reality
champions that Imortis had once used for his own end, Thor, Irondroid,
Doctor Doom, and Vampire Board Wolverine. Their first mission to
take back Limbo and Mortis's former stronghold, which is now

(04:11):
guarded by the monstrous Tempests and other powerful defenders. The
technologically advanced Irondroid is shown cutting through the space phantom
soldiers with ease. However, just as the heroes appear to
be winning, a blinding light washes over everything in an
instant time resets. Im Mortis has triggered the Immortis Wave,

(04:33):
reverting events to the moment the heroes first arrived in Limbo,
nullifying any progress. Back in the TVA's board room, it's
acknowledged that Immortis has become too powerful and any attempt
to alter the timeline as being undone by this wave.
Assistant Deputy Secretary Number two's plan has declared a failure
to the Watcher offers an idea to stop the Immortis wave.

(04:55):
They must go back before Mortis ever existed. That means
target Nathaniel Richards, the man who would become King Rama
Tut and a Mortis. We then shift to Earth sixty
three to eleven, also called Other Earth. In the thirtieth
century and this future world, a young Nathaniel Richards is
dissatisfied with the sterile peace of his era and yearns

(05:18):
for some excitement of the past. Inspired by the legacy
of another Nathaniel Richards, the father of Reed Richards, he
leaves his city and visits the ruins of the war
lord's citadel. He finds technology left behind by his ancestor,
including a time machine, and decides to travel to the
war Lord's Earth of the past to help rebuild the

(05:39):
planet after a global war. Thus begins his journey toward
becoming one of the greatest temporal.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
Threats of the multiverse.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
The Council of Cosmic Overseers debates the critical moment to
intervene in Nathaniel Richards's timeline before he transforms into a Mortis.
Deputy Secretary, too proposes an unorthodox method implanting a saturnine symbiond,
a chrono organic substance capable of resisting temporal manipulation, directly

(06:08):
into young Nathaniel. The idea is praised for its ingenuity,
as it would immunize Richards from becoming immortis and halt
the immortis wave. However, a logistical dilemma arises how to
get the symbiond into Nathaniel before the transformation takes place. Meanwhile,
Nathaniel explores the warlord's abandoned fortress, marveling at the remnants

(06:30):
of a forgotten age. Among its treasures, he discovers a
technologically advanced chamber his ancestors time machine. Inspired and emboldened,
he quickly grasps its purpose. The dream of escaping his
bland era for a more thrilling time is now within reach.
Back in the cosmic deliberations, urgency builds. If they don't

(06:54):
act now, they may lose the opportunity forever. The TVA
detects a signal someone has activated the time machine. At
that moment, the Fantastic for materialize in Nathaniel's chamber, revealing
their origin from another time and their mission to intervene
before history goes awry. However, this group's makeup, consisting of

(07:14):
alternate versions of known members, raises concern this is not
the team, wat too suggest it, casting down on whether
the plan will succeed. Nathaniel Richards is stunned to learn
from the strange new visitors that they are from another world,
an alternate reality, where they have been sent to stop
a timeline catastrophe. The armored leader explains that a being

(07:35):
named I Mortis is threatening to reshape all of reality
to his will, and that the only way to prevent
this is for Nathaniel to destroy the time platform he
has discovered. Nathaniel is confused and defensive until the revelation
drops he himself will become a Mortis one day if
left unchecked. The group explains that to avoid the outcome,

(07:59):
they might inject him with the Saturnine symbion, which will
prevent him from ever harnessing the power required to evolve
into a Mortis. But Nathaniel doesn't take the news well.
Feeling ambushed and manipulated, he rejects the plan, believing it
to be a con to rob him of his rightful inheritance.
In a rage, he smashes control panels, triggering chaos. A

(08:22):
battle erupts as Nathaniel, having already familiarized himself with the
Citadel's advanced weapons, unleashes its deadly arsenal against the alternate
reality Fantastic Four, and the combat is brooing. Ben Grim
Dragonfly is killed after being ensnared by an electrified metal mesh.
Johnny Storm aka Mandroid, is ultimately destroyed after briefly holding

(08:46):
off some of the war machines. Only Sue Storm, mutated
into a super malleable being, manages to hold on the longest,
though her survival seems grim amidst the devastation, the battle
is turning catastrophic. The effort to stop Nathaniel from becoming
a Mortis is unraveling fast. Sue Storm, despite her malleable

(09:07):
and resilient form, ultimately succumbs to the brutal.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
Weaponry of the Citadel.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
Her cry of pain is the last echo of the
Fantastic Four's resistance.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
Read Richards of this World.

Speaker 1 (09:17):
His body, long since ravaged by radiation, now exists in
a robotic shell of his own creation. Fueled by grief
for his falling teammates, he charges in the battle, utilizing
the Citadel's vast arsenal with un canny ease. His swift
mastery of the advanced tech astonishes even Nathaniel Richards, who
watches with suspicion and awe, wondering how Reed can be

(09:37):
so intimately familiar with this world's systems, almost as if
he were the original architect. But just as Reid mounts
his offensive, a powerful blast tears through him. The last
of the alternate Fantastic Four falls in a blaze of
metal and fire. As the tide of the war shifts dangerously,
a grim council watches with mounting concern. They realize the

(09:59):
battle was being lost and the consequences are dire. Immortis
himself has become a weaponized threat. Entire realities are being
consumed with terrifying ease, like a clerk burning through paper clips.
Reports confirm their worst fears. The enemy is relentless, the
war effort is failing. On the battlefield, Ironroid makes a

(10:21):
bold charge, but is swiftly and brutally struck down by
a blast, his armor torn apart, his body left broken.
Watching from a distance, doctor Doom contemplates stepping into the
fray to fight off the monstrous dire rates, But before
he can act, one of the creatures fires a grotesque
tendril that pierces his armor and begins to drain him,
shocking even the god of Thunder. Thor, witnessing Doom's fate,

(10:44):
is overcome with revulsion. He expresses disgust not only at
the violence but the savagery of their opponents. Wolverine, though,
teases Thor's squeamishness, clearly relishing in the carnage, but Thor
responds with righteous fury, declaring his the dual role is
both God and avenger, and hurls his hammer with divine force,
demolishing a foe. Vampire Wolverine embraces the chaos, Viewing the

(11:08):
slaughter as a banquet, he bites into another enemy, savoring
the violence with grim delight. Even as the tide begins
to turn in the heroes's favor, Thor and vampire Wolverine
continued their brutal fight against the monstrous diar Rates, but
even their ferocity proves a futile As the immortous wave
strikes again, time is reset in their progress undone, leaving

(11:32):
only two heroes standing. The timekeeper's counsel debates their ongoing
losses and failed plans.

Speaker 2 (11:38):
The Watch to the Watcher interrupts with a.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
Proposal only one team might succeed in convincing Nathaniel Richards
to abandon his destructive path. Soon, another Ultnate Fantastic four
appears on Warlord's Earth, confronting Nathaniel. Nathaniel again is highly suspicious,
but the new team explains there from another reality and
implore him to let them inject him with the Saturnine

(12:03):
symbiont a necessity to contain the Nexus.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
Power threatening the multiverse.

Speaker 1 (12:09):
As tensions escalate, Nathaniel prepares to unleash his robot guards,
but they.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
Suddenly stop moving.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
The new Reed reveals they used a dampening field to
neutralize the robots, citing knowledge from the Watcher about a
previous team's failure. As Nathaniel resists, he's physically restrained, and
the team pleads with him to understand the states to
prove his lineage and gain trust. The new Red hands
Nathaniel a DNA analysis device to verify their familiar connection,

(12:37):
hoping that truth will sway him before it's too late.
Nathaniel Richards, moved by the evidence and the plea of
a supposed descendants, decides to trust the Alternate Fantastic Four.
He agrees to be injected with the Saturnine Sembiant, which
will allow him to carry the Nexus power without ever
becoming a threat. Once the injection takes a he loses

(13:00):
all memory of the events involving.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
Immortis and the crisis.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
However, it's noted that he will still go on to
build the iconic Sphinx shaped time machine, setting.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
Him on a legendary path of time exploration.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
With their mission complete, the Alternate Fantastic Four disappear into
the Time Rectangle and the mysterious Whisperers agents the War Wolverine,
Doctor Doom, Iron Droid fade from the battlefield, their roles fulfilled,
each returns to a new destiny. Doom is alive on
his Earth, Irondroid is back among the twenty second century
cosmic Avengers, and Vampire Wolverine now rules the Dark Dimension.

(13:39):
The Timeline has healed, or at least realigned in limbo.
The mortis overwhelmed by the unchecked Nexus energy is consumed
by it. Rather than gaining power, He explodes, unable to
obtain the vast force meant to be wielded through the Symbion.
At the moment of his annihilation, the three time Keepers reappear,

(13:59):
and they are not pleased. Suddenly, a second trio of
identical beings appear, revealing to be the Time Twisters, earlier
versions of the Timekeepers. As the two trios confront one another,
it's revealed that the Twisters manipulated a mortis using.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
The likeness of the time Keepers.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
Their plan was to dominate the timeline by ensuring their
reality prevailed, but thanks to the Watcher's interference in the
actions of the heroes, the Twister's plot has been foiled.
The true Timekeepers now stand dominant as the multiverse stabilizes.
With balance restored, the Keepers return to their eternal watch
over time and the newly stabilized realities, while the echoes

(14:38):
of this battle fade into cosmic elecgend As the dust
of the cosmic conflict settles, unseeing figures in silhouette celebrate
their victory, vowing to ensure the Time Twisters can never
rise again. Inside the TVA, bureaucrats begin squabbling over credit.
One claims he saved the multiverse by utilizing a version

(14:58):
of the Fantastic Four. Another insists his poster campaign turned
the tide. Others boast about newsletters and committees. Meanwhile, far
from their interference, read Sue, Johnny and Benn walk peacefully
across an alien landscape. Their role in this temporal war
was profound. They had no extraordinary powers beyond intelligence, compassion,

(15:19):
and resolve, and they ultimately triumphed over cosmic forces. The
final words come from the Watcher, Solomon Reverent. He reminds
us that knowledge is the greatest power of all and
in this tale it made the difference. And there it is, folks,

(15:41):
we have reached the end. My goodness, what a journey
that was. This project was unique, to say the least.
Remember to check out the Time quakesoundtrack at Suno dot com.
Link in the description should be able to follow it
and listen to every track inspired by events in each issue.

(16:04):
I want to thank Chris Bailey and the other members
of the super Blog team up for allowing me to
participate in this event. Wrapping things up here and giving
you my thoughts on Time Quake who Roy Thomas hit
us with a lot. I understand that the continuity of

(16:25):
Marvel Comics is massive, and Roy had that to play
with at times. This storyline could be a little too
much for my brain. I'm a fan of time travel.
I love time travel being used and being used well.
This story was more about alternate realities and a being
that can time travel and use time against his enemies.

(16:47):
How we resolved this story. I read it twice and
it was still a little over my head. And this
isn't back to the future. That was a little bit
more simpler than what we get here in Time Quake,
But it's a story I hadn't read up until now,
So that is one box that I can check off
of my list. Let's hear it for the rest of

(17:10):
the super blog team up here that is releasing some
content again. Check out hashtag SBTU or hashtag super Blog
Team up on Twitter. The event started on the thirtieth
of July and at that time there were a few participants.
Between The Page's Blog brought us when Scooby Doo met

(17:30):
the Flintstones and Partying with the Flintstones and the Jetsons.
Superhero Satellite brought us Hex Communications, Dave's Comic Heroes blog
brought us Superman and Superboy, Switch the Tell Tail Mind,
Time and Time Again, The Man Who Lived Forever Asterisk
fifty one, Squirrel Girl Master's Time Travel, So absolutely go

(17:53):
check those out and enjoy what you read there. Well,
speaking of time, I think it's time for me to go,
but I'm gonna leave you with something. Most of the soundtrack,
if you get a chance to listen to it on Souno,
is absent of lyrics. That's on purpose because it's tough
for me to read a comic and have lyrics going

(18:14):
into my ear at the same time.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
It's like walking and chewing bubblegum for me.

Speaker 1 (18:18):
But there's definitely one song that's gonna have lyrics at
the end of the soundtrack based on our third installment
here what if Wolverine was Lord of the Vampires during Inferno?
And there's gonna be one other bonus track that has
lyrics based on a story in Timequake. But you'll have
to go to souno dot com follow the link in

(18:41):
the description to check out the soundtrack. But what that said,
let me leave you with Timequake, Watch your Alone.

Speaker 3 (19:12):
I fixed on Frac Shirt, Fate, Timels Twisted.

Speaker 4 (19:18):
Lean, the hands of those away time Keepers, cold and cruel,
erase what they command.

Speaker 2 (19:28):
Football stailing across the morning.

Speaker 5 (19:32):
The.

Speaker 6 (19:34):
Vision lost in Nash and.

Speaker 4 (19:36):
Flame Frankly same but not the same.

Speaker 5 (19:40):
Crackly stands on.

Speaker 4 (19:41):
The next soda time flag Pa never screams into.

Speaker 6 (19:51):
Time like a shadow.

Speaker 4 (19:54):
We can't fat. The the plays as exactly there collide.

Speaker 6 (20:02):
And the sub fat the dead.

Speaker 3 (20:20):
Through the two of Draculum's mind, Wilbered was born a
new the beast. The flood of chorcer ching his sack
of Monster's crew, honey shot fell, the doctor dead, the
ghost of hero swed will and forests then rule the

(20:40):
streets and.

Speaker 4 (20:41):
Nightmas do not sleep senasor runs through so esteep.

Speaker 2 (20:47):
Doctor's chores was in his scheme. Shoots to shadows, tide.

Speaker 6 (20:53):
Sell the place to hide.

Speaker 4 (20:57):
Time flag Sinister stri Swiss hearts lessen its time.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
Inside of facing.

Speaker 4 (21:07):
Listen the Jolan twins, the t Sto walks, the store fall.

(21:32):
They all was small, clean and a start as I
fulfilled a great mistake.

Speaker 6 (21:39):
Beside the bloody fat, it's the wild, It's all the

(22:09):
storm of.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
Flame is mindless.

Speaker 4 (22:12):
Lines now steak their claim, but Sinner Stock holds.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
Curstmas alf the dark holes makes the.

Speaker 5 (22:23):
Phoene explairs and burning come time way secrets of the past.

Speaker 4 (22:34):
She turns her song ind she bus her.

Speaker 6 (22:41):
Cold, so we takes the shine.

Speaker 5 (22:57):
The whispers speaks beyond the fan seen gray winds.

Speaker 4 (23:01):
Then let's the scale w firing more.

Speaker 5 (23:04):
Nor wins extend, the getting rise as judgment. So noble

(23:47):
screens consuming, and I cannot fire falls and cosmic flights
over in lost between the streams and apes, or so.

Speaker 6 (23:58):
Let's see.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
Timekeeper's falter one fades.

Speaker 4 (24:13):
Away, the TV shapes alongs betray.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
Sinister grins with stolen flesh. The cycle turned begins up for.

Speaker 4 (24:31):
A time time the stops reduced time.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
The watcher knows and will sat by fame the sun.

Speaker 4 (24:55):
Whoever