Update: Marvel Comics has released a series of teasers for its upcoming Timeless #1 anthology one-shot, which offers readers glimpses of several major story arcs coming to the Marvel Universe in 2022.
The teasers kicked off with a look at Thanos wielding Thor's hammer Mjolnir with the Infinity Stones encrusted in it (more details on that below). Further teasers have shown Doctor Doom likely in connection to his new Multiversal Masters of Evil appearing in Avengers, and Kang interacting with an apparently new character named Anatoly Petrov.
The most recent and final teaser shows a group of fallen Celestials laying around what appears to be Kang's sword-shaped spaceship, Damocles Base. The teaser asks "How will Entropy lead to the end of the Marvel Universe?"
This is a particularly interesting question, as the concept of entropy refers to the slow loss of heat and energy experienced by all matter, and is the exact real thermodynamic force that will eventually lead to the end of the real universe (probably billions of eons from now) as the physical order of reality devolves into chaos.
Comforting, right?
In Marvel Comics terms, especially when Kang is in play, this could be a particularly interesting philosophical connection, as Kang is the master of time and time travel - and the concept of 'time' itself is a measurement of the observable qualities of entropy.
Could that mean that Kang is actively trying to enact the heat death of the Marvel Universe? We may find out when Timeless #1 arrives on December 22.
In the meantime, here's a gallery of all Marvel's Timeless teasers:
Original story follows...
The Marvel Universe may be forever, but a series of teasers counting down to Marvel Comics' Timeless #1 are ticking away the seconds with clock-themed images showcasing some of the stories contained in the upcoming anthology one-shot.
Interestingly, all the stories contained in Timeless #1 are in fact teasers themselves, described by the publisher as the "first glimpse at what's to come next year, including new developments for the X-Men, Daredevil, Venom, the Avengers, and all the major players in the Marvel pantheon!" back when it was announced.
As such, one of the first teasers, which Newsarama debuts here, depicts none other than fan-favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe villain Thanos wielding a weapon even more unsettling than his infamous Infinity Gauntlet - Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor, encrusted with all six of the Infinity Stones.
"What weapon will Thanos wield to threaten the future of the Marvel Universe?" asks the teaser's simple text.
As ominous as this teaser seems, readers of writer Donny Cates' current volume of Thor should be used to it by now, as the clash between the God of Thunder and the Mad Titan (with Thanos and not Thor wielding Mjolnir) has been foreshadowed since as far back as 2020's Thor #6.
In that issue, while fighting the villain known as the Black Winter, Thor had a vision of his death at the hands of Thanos, wielding the Infinity Stone-empowered Mjolnir, while leading an army of undead Marvel heroes.
Since then, Thor has had recurring nightmares about his death at Thanos' hands, most recently in Thor #16, in which the full scene of Thor's death plays out in his visions, right on the page. At the same time, the enchantment on Mjolnir has been changing, with the hammer taking on unpredictable properties, including becoming unwieldable by Thor but able to be lifted by everyone else and even swinging itself unbidden at Captain America.
What does this all mean? Well, if we had to guess, it means that Thanos is going to kill Thor in 2022, after managing to wrest control of Mjolnir thanks to its fading enchantment.
Rest in peace Thor - and maybe a good chunk of the larger Marvel Universe, if a story with implications as massive as Thanos wielding an Infinity Stone-empowered Mjolnir to lead an army of zombie heroes can be counted on to go to its natural progression.
Time will tell (see what we did there?) when Timeless is released on December 22.
The first time Thanos assembled the Infinity Stones, it led to one of the most impactful Marvel Comics events ever, Infinity Gauntlet.
