History
During the Super-Hero Civil War, a group of heroes led by Iron Man, Mister Fantastic and Yellowjacket created a massive prison in the Negative Zone to house captured non-registering heroes as they waited for their trials. It was designated Negative Zone Prison Alpha but nicknamed "Fantasy Island" or "Wonderland" by inmates. Tony Stark himself named it "Project 42", as it had been the 42nd idea out of a hundred that he, Reed Richards and Hank Pym had created following the Stamford Disaster. There were portals to it planned for every single state so prisoners could be transported there by the different teams in the Fifty State Initiative- including one at Ryker's Island. It was very clean, with sanitation, but extremely heavily-guarded, including password-changes every ten minutes.[6][7]
The prison's most notable former inmates were Iron Fist (posing as Daredevil at the time), Cloak and Dagger, Speedball, Prodigy and Prowler. It was also the setting for the final battle of the Super-Hero Civil War, as Iron Man set a trap for Captain America but the Captain retaliated by using his planted mole, Hulkling, to release all the prisoners of 42 who came to his aid. Though in the ensuing battle Cloak managed to teleport all its superhuman detainees out, it remained as a prison for villains such as Lady Deathstrike and Taskmaster. (Taskmaster was later released to become the trainer for new Initiative recruits and Deathstrike seemingly escaped to assist in the Purifiers' crusade to hunt the Messiah Baby.) It also held many of the Sakaaran forces after the events of World War Hulk.[8]
During and after the events of the Skrull Invasion, the caretakers of 42 abandoned the prison and left the inmates to take over the facility and disconnect themselves from Earth. 42 and its "residents" were later confronted by Blastaar, who had made himself king of the Negative Zone and planned to lead an army to invade Earth via 42's teleportation device.[9] Eventually, one of the inmates, Skeleton Ki, betrayed his fellow earthlings and allowed Blastaar and his forces to take over Wonderland. Thanks to the timely assistance of The Guardians of the Galaxy, along with the unregistered superhero Jack Flag, Starlord was able to escape and warn Reed Richards, Gauntlet, and Baron Von Blitzschlag about Blastaar's armies.[10] The gates to 42 were shut down and the Negative Zone was sealed off from Earth. After Norman Osborn instated the Thunderbolts Initiative, the Shadow Initiative was dispatched in successfully retaking 42 from Blastaar despite suffering heavy casualties.[11]
Alternate Realities[]
Marvel Animated Universe (Earth-8096)[]
The Prison 42 structure in the Negative Zone
After the mass breakouts of superpowered criminals from The Vault, The Big House, The Cube, and The Raft, Iron Man began working with Mr. Fantastic on building a prison in the Negative Zone.[12] The Negative Zone Prison Alpha or "Prison 42" was then constructed.[13] The guards were the same Ultron models used as guards in the Big House. When Ultron rebelled, the Ultron guards were replaced with S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents.[14]
The gateway to Prison 42 and the Negative Zone
Eventually, Annihilus came and led his Annihilation Wave in an attack on Prison 42. Because of the numbers of the Annihilation Wave, the Avengers had to release some of the superpowered inmates in order to fight them. During the attack, the Annihilation Wave killed Blizzard, Radioactive Man, Whirlwind, and three A.I.M. agents. After Annihilus was defeated, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents for the next guard shift arrive.[15] In the aftermath of the attack, a new prison called the Hydrobase was created in New York harbor to replace it.[16]
Reed Richards solves everything (Earth-81551)[]
Residents
Mainstream Universe (Earth-616)[]
Prisoners[]
- Blaastar and his hoard
- Bison (Billy Kitson)
- Condor
- Devos the Devastator
- Gorilla-Man (Arthur Nagan)
- Skeleton Ki (Alisher Sham)
- Captain Rectitude (Bob Jones IV)
Former Prisoners[]
- Battlestar (Lemar Hoskins)
- Dagger (Tandy Bowen) & Cloak (Tyrone Johnson)
- Cloc
- Coldblood (Eric Savin)
- Diablo (Esteban Corazón de Ablo)
- Digiteck (Jonathan Bryant)
- Dragon Man
- Hardball (Roger Brokeridge)
- Iron Fist/Daredevil (Daniel Rand)
- Jack Flag (Jack Harrison)
- Living Mummy (N'Kantu)
- Miek
- Prodigy (Richard Gilmore)
- Prowler (Hobie Brown)
- Speedball (Robert Baldwin)
- Typeface (Gordon Thomas)
- Wiccan (William Kaplan)
Marvel Animated Universe (Earth-8096)[]
Staff[]
- Ultron (formerly)
- S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents (formerly)
Former Prisoners[]
- Blizzard
- Mandrill
- Kang the Conqueror
- Abomination
- Captain Marvel
- Clay Quartermain
- Whirlwind
- Absorbing Man
- Radioactive Man
- Executioner
- The Leader
- Veranke
- Living Laser
- Ronan the Accuser
- Baron Zemo
- Crimson Dynamo
- Some A.I.M. agents
- Some Kree soldiers
- Some Skrulls soldiers
Earth-81551[]
Staff[]
- Reed Richards (main supervisor)
Prisoners[]
- 5 unrevealed prisoners
Former Prisoners[]
Trivia
- In Captain America: Civil War, The Raft serves an analogous purpose to Prison 42.
See Also
- 50 appearance(s) of Prison 42
- 2 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Prison 42
- 3 minor appearance(s) of Prison 42
- 17 mention(s) of Prison 42
- 6 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Prison 42
- 6 image(s) of Prison 42
Links and References
References
- ↑ Civil War #7
- ↑ Civil War: Front Line #5
- ↑ Civil War: Battle Damage Report #1
- ↑ Civil War #5–6
- ↑ Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #3
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #535
- ↑ Civil War #5
- ↑ Civil War #5–7
- ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 2) #9
- ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 2) #10
- ↑ Avengers: The Initiative #27
- ↑ Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes S1E03
- ↑ Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes S1E12
- ↑ Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes S1E18
- ↑ Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes S2E16
- ↑ Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes S2E23
- ↑ Fantastic Four #551