Immortality is the ability to live forever. This may be complete immortality, in which the character cannot be killed in any way, appears to die, but is resurrected somehow later, and they are forever young, or can even only be killed in specific ways (i.e. decapitation).

Variations

Some may only possess the power of:

• True Immortals: Characters who are true immortals, they will live forever unless killed.
• Virtual Immortals: Includes characters who are virtually immortal, they live for millennia but will eventually die.
• Advanced Longevity: Includes characters who are not true immortals, but do in fact have unnaturally long lifespans. This includes beings that live longer then humans.
  • Regeneration: This includes beings with high-level regeneration of the body that heals any injuries, even fatal ones, preventing one from dying.
• Undead: Beings who are medically deceased but behave as if they were alive. A common example of an undead being is a corpse reanimated by supernatural forces, by the application of either the deceased's own life force or that of another being.
• Soul: A soul does not inherit physical characteristics of a living body, such as concepts of destruction, therefore it does not decay nor can it be destroyed; in short, the user cannot die because it is already dead. Most common form of immortality.
  • Resurrection: The process where death is temporary. Injuries may be inflicted, but complete annihilation is impossible.
• Invulnerability: When a individual cannot be harmed in any way or form. therefore, death by physical damage is omitted.
• Possession and Assumption: The transfer of the consciousness, either permanently or temporarily, into a new body, either cloned, robotic, or someone else's.
• Self-Sustenance: Able to survive without the need for bodily resources, such as food, water, or air.
• Spatial-Temporal Lock: Existing outside the normal space-time continuum, and thus remaining immune to what happens in it.

Examples

Immortal Characters

For a full list of immortal characters, see here

Immutability or Reality Warp Immunity is the resistance to all external physical change. One with this ability cannot be transformed into another form, genetically altered, shrunk, expanded, weighed down or affected by Reality Bending, either based on their physiology or on their own will. However, they could still be damaged by normal changes (injury, disease, age, the elements). One with this ability, however, may be able to temporarily pass on this trait to another or undo changes to others themselves.

Notable users of this power:

• Layla Miller (Earth-616)

• Elizabeth Braddock (Earth-616)

• Valeria von Doom (Earth-99315)

---

The incursions are the result of the Beyonders' machination to end the Multiverse and Rabum Alal's failed attempt at stopping them.^[1][2] To destroy the Multiverse, the Beyonders, desiring to spare it from Enigma,^[3][4] conducted an "experiment" and created the Molecule Man as a living "bomb" in each reality. The death of these Molecule Men destroys their universe and they were all set to go off in 25 years. Opposing the Beyonders, the Molecule Man–616 and Doctor Doom, Rabum Alal's true identity,^[5] embarked on a time-travelling mission to eliminate all of these Molecule Men early to diminish the charge and save the Multiverse; they founded the Black Swans to help. However, the Beyonders had built the Molecule Men "too well" and the sabotage attempt simply sent the Multiverse on an alternate path of destruction.^[2] The Molecule Men's deaths had caused the Multiverse to contract, both in its timeline and the proximity of its realities, and realities began to collide in events called incursions.^[6] The first incursion happened seven years after the first Molecule Man's death,^[1] and the site was Earth because that was where the Molecule Man had died.^[7] To the Beyonders, this was not unforeseen, as the Beyonders had designed the incursions to happen as part of their "perfect annihilation plan."^{[8][9][10][11]}

The contraction caused universes throughout the Multiverse to collide, with each universe's respective Earth as the point of impact. An incursion is the the period in which the two Earths collide, lasting exactly eight hours.^[6] Throughout the duration, there is a short period of harmonic alignment which allows both Earths to exist next to each other without any detrimental effects.

Once the eight hours pass and the Earths collide, both the planets and their respective universes are obliterated.^[6] According to the Black Swan, there are at least eight ways of averting an incursion.^[12] One of these involves the destruction of at least one of the Earths before they can collide. Doing so will save both universes, and one of the Earths. Each time a new incursion happens, the rate in which universes collide accelerates. With each universe that is destroyed, the Multiverse contracts and its lifespan is shortened.^[6]

For each incursion there is an "incursion point," a single area in each of the colliding Earths from which the other Earth can be seen approaching. The skies inside the incursion point are usually colored red,^[6] but they can also be blue. Blue incursions signified the Mapmakers, who drained Earths of their resources, used the incursions to travel to other Earths, destroyed the old Earths to save the new Earths, and repeated the process.^[13] Outside the incursion point, everything looks normal.^[14] An unusual phenomenon called "Simtum Tapputu" can occur, in which an Earth is in an incursion with two realities at the same time.^[15]

Even if a universe's Earth was prematurely destroyed, which stopped the incursion from destroying the universe, the universe would still die early due to the fact that the incursions were shortening the entire Multiverse's lifespan and not just colliding Earths together.^[6] For example, Abyss mentioned that the stars of Earth-1120006, whose Earth had been destroyed by the Mapmakers, were collapsing and the universe was nearing its last gasp.^[8] During the battle between the final two Earths, Earth-616 and Earth-1610, the Maker and the Cabal knew that the conflict was pointless because every single simulation showed that the Multiverse was going to end even if one of the Earths was destroyed. They had reached the death of everything.^[16]

The final incursion ended the Multiverse as the Seventh Cosmos. The Future Foundation created a life raft that allowed Mister Fantastic and various heroes to survive, and the Maker built a similar life raft for the Cabal. Doctor Doom, the Molecule Man, and Doctor Strange killed the Beyonders and stole their power. With it, they created Battleworld out of the remnants of defunct realities, allowing them and many others to also survive. Doom ruled Battleworld for eight years until the two life rafts opened, releasing those suspended inside. In a confrontation with Doom, the power of the Beyonders was transferred to Reed, who then restored the Multiverse as the Eighth Cosmos with help from his son Franklin and the Molecule Man.^[17] As the Eighth Cosmos ended up being a continuation, the Beyonders' experiment was deemed a failure and the remaining Beyonders changed their strategy to using Concordance Engines to contain Enigma to a small number of realities.^[3]

Alternate Realities

Marvel Cinematic Universe and adjacent realities

• On Earth-838, Earth-199999, and other earths depicted in the related continuity, the Incursions are caused as a result of prolonged multiversal travel. Dream walking, a spell found within the Darkhold that allows its user to take control of an alternate self can trigger an Incursion. The Doctor Strange of Earth-838 caused the first of these incursions, destroying an entire reality. A sinister Strange caused an incursion on his home reality, although it wasn't totally destroyed. The Doctor Strange of Earth-199999 caused an incursion as well.^[46]

Notes

• While the incursions are not the Beyonders' original plan,^[1] the Beyonders state that the incursions are still part of their experiment and that they are the cause of the incursions.^[8]
• Doctor Strange called the Beyonders' annihilation plan "perfect."^[47] If nothing is done, the Molecule Men would explode and destroy the Multiverse, but if the Molecule Men are killed early, their deaths would start the incursions which would still destroy the Multiverse.^[1]

Clarifications

• The Beyonders and Doom each had two plans, which may result in confusion:
  • Beyonders' Plan A: Destroy the Multiverse with the Molecule Men (simultaneously).^[1][2]
  • Doom's Plan A: Eliminate all the Molecule Men to save the Multiverse. Doom founded the Black Swans to help.^[1][2]
  • Beyonders' Plan B: The incursions^{[8][9][10][11]} (caused by setting off the Molecule Men).^[6][1][2][7] The Beyonders sent the Mapmakers to track and lure irritants (e.g. Multiversal Avengers).^[23][48]
  • Doom's Plan B: At some point, Doom stopped killing Molecule Men and started kidnapping them to use as a weapon against the Beyonders. The Molecule Men destroyed the Beyonders and stole their power, allowing Doom to preserve the Multiverse's remnants as Battleworld.^[2]
    • Secret Wars #5 clarifies that Doom was genuinely trying to save the Multiverse by killing the Molecule Men. He only conceived his Battleworld plan after he had realized his original plan was futile.
• History of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 2) #6 claims that Doom and Reece were unaware that killing Molecule Men would trigger the incursions, but Reece knew their actions would cause worlds to collide.^[1] They thought that the Molecule Men exploding was the main threat and did not anticipate how effective the incursions would be.^[2]
• Because of the Black Swan,^[29] many characters mistakenly believed that Rabum Alal (Doctor Doom) and the Ivory Kings (Beyonders) wanted the same thing: the destruction of the Multiverse.^[18] However, Doom explained that she was a rogue Swan and that he was actually trying to save the Multiverse.^[1][2]

References

In magazine and comic publishing, an indicia refers to the piece of text that is traditionally displayed on the first recto page after the cover. It contains technical information about the published material, most notably the official name of the publication, its publication date, copyright information and any disclaimers.

With the introduction of the recap page, indicia are usually present at the bottom of these. One of the most notable difference between a comic's digital and print versions are the indicia. Since the digital version doesn't need to include the technical aspects of the issue's printing, it's limited to displaying information about copyright and disclaimers.

Not to be confused the common meaning of the word, Intelligences are a type of planetary societies that are amalgamations of no less than 100 and up to 10,000 Machines working harmoniously towards a unified goal. They are commonly created by copying and merging existing living minds.^[1]

Examples

• The Kree created the Supreme Intelligence to have it create a Cosmic Cube for them,^[2] but it refused^[3] and soon rose to govern the Kree Empire.^[4]
• The Skrulls created the Intelligentsia to rival the Kree's Supreme Intelligence.^[5]
• Doctor Stasis had amalgamated some of humanity's greatest intellects to create a Supreme Intelligence inside the Vault, in order to help him usurp the Machines' plan for ascension to dominionhood.^[6]

Of or having to do with the space between two universes, each of which exists in its own dimension.

This is a list of fictional characters with the power to enter a state in which they can pass through solid matter without harm. This process can also be called phasing. Characters with this ability often use it to avoid damage since the attack will pass through.

To put it simply, it is the ability to "go through walls".

Intangibility is often done by passing their atoms between the spaces of other particles in the surface they are "going through".

Notable Intangible Characters

• Vision
• Kate Pryde
• Spectrum
• X-Man
• Moonstone
• Speed
• Onslaught
• Mister M
• Cloak
• Red Ghost

For a list of all characters who can become intangible, see here.

Invisibility is the state of an object which cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be invisible (literally, "not visible"). The term is usually used as a fantasy/science fiction term, where objects are literally made unseeable by magical or technological means. However, its effects can also be seen in the real world, particularly in physics and perceptional psychology.

Since objects can be seen by light in the visible spectrum from a source reflecting off their surfaces and hitting the viewer's eye, the most natural form of invisibility (whether real or fictional) is an object which does not reflect nor absorbs light (that is, it allows light to pass through it). In nature, this is known as transparency, and is seen in many naturally-occurring materials (although no naturally-occurring material is 100% transparent).

Visibility also depends on the eyes of the observer and/or the instruments used. Thus an object can be classified as "invisible to" a person, animal, instrument, etc. In the research of sensorial perception invisibility has been shown to happen in cycles.

Examples

• Invisible Woman

For a list of characters who can turn invisible, see Category:Invisibility

"In-universe" is an adjective that refers to the perspective from which the elements of a fictional story are viewed. An in-universe perspective means that how these elements are viewed is limited to the context from within the fictional story. Compare and contrast this concept with out-of-universe.

Most information relating to in-story elements (characters, teams, items, etc.) that appear in the Marvel Database must be written using an in-universe perspective. For instance, the History section of Spider-Man's article will treat him as if he was a real vigilante living in New York City, and will not make references to the fact that he was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, nor make direct references to the comics in which his adventures are published.

For more details on the narrative in which articles must be written, please see the Marvel Database's Manual of Style.

History

The Iron Fist is the greatest source of Chi energy on the planet. Shou-Lao was an immortal dragon who became the source of this power. During a performance of the dragon riders of K'un-Lun for the entertainment of its Yu-Ti, Shou-Lao went berserk and attacked the city's leader. He was slain by Quan-St'ar, who cut out the dragon's heart. Enraged at this, Yu-Ti banished Quan-St'ar from the city and revived the dragon by melting its heart and placing it in a sacred cavern. From this moment, each Iron Fist had to accomplish the final test of defeating this dragon in order to absorb part of its power. He was reborn over 66 times.^[1] Danny Rand defeated the dragon, and in the course of the battle had the dragon-shaped tattoo burned on his chest. After defeating Shou-Lao, he plunged his hands into the brazier containing the dragon's immortal heart, and it charged him with the power of the Iron Fist.^[2][3]

In a highly unorthodox case, Lin Lie became the Iron Fist in a near-death experience without passing the trial,^[4] and he obtained the mark of the Iron Fist later from a Celestial.^[5]

Powers

By summoning his chi and focusing it into his hand, he can draw upon the superhuman energy derived from the heart of the mystic serpent Shou-Lao and make his fist inhumanly powerful and super humanly resistant to injury and pain on a superhuman scale. This "iron fist" technique does not involve a physical transformation of any kind, simply a psychic channeling of concentrated natural energy. With his fist in this state, Rand can shatter wood and brick, rip through steel, and punch his opponents with extraordinary concussive force without sustaining injury to himself. The force of this technique has rendered incredibly durable Super humans such as the Colossus unconscious.^[6]