The Quantum Bands are unique energy-manipulating devices of incredible power that the Cosmic Being Eon awarded to those beings that it appointed to be Protectors of the Universe. The bands served as both instruments of power and symbols of the station of the Protectors.[2]
History
The Quantum Bands were unique energy-manipulating devices of incredible power and relics of the Kree Empire. Although some texts claim that Eon created them, the exact origin of the Quantum Bands has never been revealed so it's possible that Eon actually acquired them from some unknown source.[citation needed] The ascended Eternal Kronos gave a set of Bands to his son Mentor and Sui-San for their wedding, an event which Eon attended.[3]
Eon choosing Quasar to be the Protector of the Universe
With the exception of the Kree Captain Mar-Vell, all of the chosen Protectors have worn the Quantum Bands, beginning with Glakandar, the very first Protector who was appointed by Eon five billion years ago.[4] Eon usually controlled who possessed the Quantum Bands but sometimes random chance caused them to fall into the wrong hands, allowing them to be used by beings who were unworthy of them.[2]
The Quantum Bands are believed to be the weapons known to the Kree as the legendary "Power-Bands of Rinn" that were the prototype for the powerful Nega-Bands.[5] It has been observed that they bear a certain resemblance to the Kree Uni-Beam weapon.
As Mentor and Sui-San's wedding rings
Sometime between 200,000 years ago and the present, the Quantum Bands were acquired by Kronos and given as rings to Kronos' son Mentor (A'Lars) and Sui-San for their wedding, attended by Eon. Mentor had asked his father to circumvent Eternal biology that prevented them from having true Eternal children (able to be added to the Machine that is Earth) and the rings allowed the couple to conceive two true Eternal sons, Thanos and Eros, although the former ended up being a disaster. When Thanos killed his mother, Mentor angrily threw the Quantum Band rings at his father and Kronos declared that they would oppose Thanos' villainy, always.[3]
Thanos once used the Infinity Gauntlet to resurrect four previous Protectors and equip them with fully-functional replicas of the Quantum Bands.[6] Three of those replicas may have been destroyed when Quasar used the original bands to overload them with energy in order to destroy the attacking bioduplicates.[7] The fourth pair remains in the possession of the last bioduplicate, Blue Marvel.[8]Properties
The bands draw energy from the Quantum Zone, the realm of potential energy from which all actual energy in the Marvel Universe derives. Although the Quantum Zone usually supplies the wielder with unlimited power, the Quantum Bands also maintain a finite store of energy within themselves. If the power from the Quantum Zone were ever inaccessible or somehow blocked, the Quantum Bands would be forced to rely on this stored energy and would become useless once that energy had been totally drained.
Being worn by Quasar
Once donned, the Quantum Bands interface with the nervous systems of their wearers, enabling them to control the functions of the bands via mental commands.[9]
The bands give their wearer control over the electromagnetic spectrum and can be used to drain most forms of energy from beings or mechanisms in their vicinity. The bands can also project energy at any wavelength desired by the wielder or project beams of concussive force. However, the bands cannot be used to control either psionic energy[10] or magical energy[11] because those energies lie outside of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Quasar using the bands to absorb energy
The Quantum Bands can also be used to absorb energy and de-energize opponents.[12] Life energies from beings who have recently died can also be absorbed and used for power.[13] In desperate circumstances, specific souls can find refuge in the bands until they can be restored to their proper bodies.[14]
The bands can be programmed to perform certain automatic functions, such as detecting energy sources, sensing the approach of incoming energy fluctuations of sufficient power to do harm and automatically absorbing that energy, shielding the wearer when they leave an atmosphere into space, protecting the wearer from external mental control, etc.[2][15]
The Quantum Bands can be used to create quantum-constructs, quasi-solid energy constructs that can be any shape that the wearer can visualize. Once formed, these constructs are permanent and remain in existence until destroyed or the wearer chooses to deconstruct them. They are often used as protective force fields or to maintain a habitable environment during space travel.
Eon showing Quasar how to Quantum Jump
The Quantum Bands enable their wearers to fly through space. The wearer can also "Quantum Jump" by opening a wormhole in spacetime, allowing them to travel vast distances.[2] Quantum Jumps can be used to travel to the Quantum Zone,[7] and they can also be used to enter and exit to the White Room.[16] Maelstrom used the bands to find and go to the Eonverse.[17] The bands can open the portal to the Eonverse even after Eon's death.[6]
Quasar and Eon conversing
The bands also provided an instantaneous communications link to Eon,[18] it currently provides one to Epoch,[19] and it can connect to other people too.[20]
The bands can bend light around themselves to appear invisible, allowing the wearer to go around unnoticed.[21] They can also make their normally visible constructs invisible.[20] It is not known if the wearer could extend this to allowing themselves to be cloaked or allow image induction, but it is theoretically possible.
The bands are able to augment the wearer's physical strength and durability. Although any wearer could do so, Quasar never realized that they could, unlike his predecessor, Thelius, who used them to give himself superhuman strength and prowess.[22]
Quantum Bands in various shapes and forms
Although the Quantum Bands have long existed in the form of two 3-inch wrist-bands that fit on the arms of their wearers, at times in the past they have existed as a single object, a Quantum Band that was worn as a belt or necklace by Protectors who did not have arms. In at least one case, the Quantum Band existed as a crown that floated above a Protector whose form was gaseous.[2] Presumably it was Eon who controlled what form the bands would take in accordance with the needs of the beings he had selected to be the next Protector.
Whatever their form, the Quantum Bands are made of an unknown black metal and each of them are studded with seven smooth golden gems of an unknown composition. However, at some times in the past, for reasons that have not been revealed, the metal portions of the bands have been as golden as the gems. The Quantum Bands are at least five billion years old but have never shown any sign of reduced functionality. The Quantum Bands are indestructible, and while the Ultimate Nullifier can nullify them, they will rematerialize somewhere else in the universe.[23]
In the past, once the Quantum Bands had been donned by their wearers, they would bond to their bodies and could not be removed until they died,[2] not even by Eon.[24] In the event that a body part to which a Quantum Band had been bonded was detached from the rest of its wearer's still-living body, the organic material within the band would become extremely durable and unremovable, preventing the band from being worn. Once the wearer actually died, then the bands would come loose from the wearer's body part.[17] However, in recent years, it has been possible to remove the bands from their wearers while they were still alive, as when Phyla-Vell took them from Annihilus.[25]
While they were being worn, some of the life essences of the wearers would be retained within the bands. Upon the deaths of the wearers, those residues of life essence would be transmitted to a pocket dimension known as the White Room where they would manifest as spirits that animated copies of their bodies that were composed of the matter of Eon's body.[26]
Alternate Reality Versions
Marvel Cinematic Universe (Earth-199999)[]
Kamala Khan's bangle
In 1942, during their search for a way home to the Noor Dimension, Clandestines searched through an abandoned Ten Rings temple in British-occupied India and found one of two bangles on a severed blue arm.[27] Taking the bangle, Aisha was separated from the rest of Clandestines and seemingly stranded alone in India. Eventually she met and fell in love with Hasan. To prevent Najma from finding it, Aisha passed the bangle on to her daughter who took it with her to Pakistan as she and her father forced to flee India during Partition.[28] Eventually, Sana sent the bangle to her own daughter in the United States, but believing it was junk, she immediately put it into storage. However, when Kamala needed a piece of personal flair for her Captain Marvel costume, she found the bangle. When she put on the bangle, it activated her latent superhuman powers.[1]
Eventually, the Kree Supremor Dar-Benn found the other bangle on a desert planet and searched for the other, she plans to use the bangles' power to attack the planets that Captain Marvel considered as home and steal its resources to restore her home planet, Hala.[29]
Properties[]
The bangle appears to possess the following abilities:
- Noor Dimension Conduit: The bangle appears to have a direct connection to the Noor Dimension. Two bangles may be capable of opening a stable portal to the Noor Dimension[27] while a single bangle appears only capable of opening an unstable gate that kills any who attempt to enter it.[28]
- Power Activation: The bangle does not grant powers to those wearing it, but it does appear to be capable of activating latent superhuman powers.[30][31]
- Time-Travel: The bangle appears to be capable of transporting individuals through time and space.[32][28]
- Jump Point Creation: Two bangles may be able to create stable Jump Points, while a single bangle appears only capable of opening unstable Jump Points.
Notes
- The Quantum Bands have no control over magic or telepathy. However, Quasar was able to make himself immune to mental control by programming his bands to automatically protect him from any detected attempt at such control by setting up a jamming frequency that would keep any psionic energy out of his head.[33]
See Also
- 314 appearance(s) of Quantum Bands
- 2 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Quantum Bands
- 18 minor appearance(s) of Quantum Bands
- 7 mention(s) of Quantum Bands
- 3 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Quantum Bands
- 149 image(s) of Quantum Bands
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ms. Marvel S1E01
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Quasar #2
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Eternals: Thanos Rises #1
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89 #3 ; Eon's entry
- ↑ Quasar #10
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Quasar #26
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Quasar #27
- ↑ Quasar #40–43
- ↑ Quasar #1
- ↑ Quasar #9
- ↑ Quasar #11
- ↑ Quasar #19
- ↑ Annihilation: Conquest #6
- ↑ Annihilation: Conquest #4–6
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 2) #10
- ↑ Quasar #42–43
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Quasar #22
- ↑ Quasar #4
- ↑ Quasar #32
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Quasar #6
- ↑ Quasar #3
- ↑ Fantastic Four #164–165
- ↑ Quasar #40
- ↑ Quasar #20
- ↑ Annihilation #6
- ↑ Quasar #43
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 Ms. Marvel S1E03
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 Ms. Marvel S1E05
- ↑ The Marvels (film)
- ↑ Ms. Marvel S1E02
- ↑ Ms. Marvel S1E06
- ↑ Ms. Marvel S1E04
- ↑ Quasar #13