The Final Fate of Counter-Earth!

 

If you were a reader of Bronze Age comics, then you've probably run across a few stories featuring the doomed world of Counter-Earth--a duplicate of our own Earth which was positioned in orbit on the far side of the sun, created with the best of intentions by the High Evolutionary in order to be home to a race of humanity which had none of the violent tendencies of those populating our own world (which is where I suppose the "counter" in its name comes from). Introduced in the origin story of the character who came to be known as (Adam) Warlock, we watched in shock and sadness as one of the Evolutionary's earlier creations, the vengeful Man-Beast, took advantage of the Evolutionary's lapse into a deep sleep after his labors to board the scientist's moonship and unravel his work by introducing the savage traits of our own species to those on the Evolutionary's new world--a world that the Man-Beast now declared "beyond redemption."

With the Evolutionary poised to destroy his work in order to erase the tragedy of a second Earth now a violent mirror of the first, Warlock, a witness to the travesty, offered to do what he could to fight the Man-Beast's influence on this world and prove to the Evolutionary that this race was deserving of life. The bargain was accepted, and Warlock succeeded in at least bringing an end to the Man-Beast. (Or so he believed at the time.)

In the interim, we were treated to several stories in other titles that involved the humans of Counter-Earth--the Hulk having the occasion to encounter that Earth's Bruce Banner, and, later, being helpless to save Warlock from falling into the hands of the Man-Beast and being put to death (or so it seemed). Counter-Earth also found itself vulnerable to a certain world-ravager whom the High Evolutionary met in defiance:

Over the years, we've seen other instances of Counter-Earths take their place in comics lore. If I remember correctly (I wasn't exactly enamored with stories having to do with Onslaught), the "pocket dimension" created by Franklin Richards to shunt those heroes who sacrificed their lives meeting the attack of Onslaught housed a planet that was given the name "Counter-Earth," a world eventually brought into our universe and renamed "Planet Doom" (after the good Doctor) and later visited by the Thunderbolts. In addition, the Evolutionary took another crack at creating another Counter-Earth--this one inhabited by his New Men (though they'd find the Evolutionary less of a benefactor), while at one time even attempting to merge his creation with our own Earth.

But as for the first world to be known as Counter-Earth--well, we did, regrettably, use the word "doomed" in its introduction, to be sure.

Which dooms us to explore yet another

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Marvel Trivia Question

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What was the fate of the original Counter-Earth?

To begin following the trail of developments which will lead us to our answer, we must look back again to Warlock, who would leave Counter-Earth following his eradication of the Man-Beast to sojourn among the stars in an effort to find his place in the universe. Yet coming up empty in that regard, he would eventually return to the High Evolutionary, only to be shocked by the sight of the absence of Counter-Earth and jump to conclusions in thinking the Evolutionary had finally destroyed it.

Raging at the loss of those he knew on Counter-Earth as well as the world's entire population, Warlock avenges their deaths by destroying the Evolutionary by use of his soul gem--though without realizing it, all he accomplished was to free the Evolutionary's disembodied intelligence, a state of consciousness that the Evolutionary had attained long ago.

Time passes, and we learn of Warlock's own sad fate from Moondragon, who with a group of heroes was conducting her own mission regarding Warlock (now interred on Counter-Earth) in order to achieve the aim of a being of similar origin known as Her--a being who restores the Evolutionary's consciousness to his form, in time to view for himself the absence of his world, a sight that prompts him to determine what happened.

Those responsible for the theft are the Prime Movers of Tarkus, an alien company equipped to take on such a job as moving an entire planet and contracted by mysterious beings known as the Beyonders. Their involvement, it turns out, is fortuitous for the Evolutionary, who discloses here a flaw in his world's creation that would have eventually caused its destruction.

As for what happened to the Evolutionary when he confronted the Beyonders, there are two schools of thought on that, occurring a little over ten years apart of each other. In each instance, the Evolutionary is driven insane--but how he reached that state depends on whether you believe writer Bill Mantlo (who also co-plotted the story with Sal Buscema):

... or writer Jim Starlin, who has a resurrected Warlock once again seeking guidance from his "old friend" (with Warlock taking in stride the fact that the being he killed is again among the living--I must have missed something along the way). Starlin has also revised Mark Gruenwald's story of Sphinxor and the Movers, switching them from hirelings to hijackers looking to sell Counter-Earth to the Beyonders.

Either way, the Beyonders are free to work their will on Counter-Earth--at first as a museum piece, but going on to subject its helpless populace to what appears to be a horrendous and inescapable existence at the mercy of their whims. Yet even the Beyonders fall before the new might of Thanos, who unleashes the power of the Infinity Gauntlet on one-half of the universe, bringing an end to both the Beyonders and Counter-Earth and, inadvertently, freeing that world's population from a merciless fate. In the process, we learn the origin of They (not the same They whose machinations we've previously explored)--twelve beings sent by their master, Omega (née the Man-Beast), to kill the High Evolutionary but who face a reckoning with Warlock that results in their destruction when they're made to realize his role as a savior of sorts to the planet of their birth.

Though even Starlin neglects to take into account his own story of five months earlier, where Nebula manages to gain the Gauntlet and reverse the mad gesture of her grandfather with a mere wish.

Which must have delighted the Beyonders to no end.
(Not so much their hapless victims.)