Issue(s): Marvel Team-Up #45
Cover Date: May 76
Title: "Future-shock!"
Credits:
Bill Mantlo - Writer
Sal Buscema - Penciler
Mike Esposito - Inker

Review/plot:
Trying to return home, Spidey's time machine malfunctions and he is thrown into the far future of 2019, where he meets Killraven and helps him fight some Martian tripods.

Mark Gruenwald writes in to issue #49 with the following:

I feel compelled to try to clarify a possible misconception one might get from reading #45's "Future Shock". Namely: Spider-Man's concern that "Nothing we do matters because in thirty years time the Martians are gonna grind it all into paste."

It has already been established that no future is the only possible course of reality a world will take (notably in Defenders #26), but Spider-Man has even less cause for concern. Killraven'ts world of 2019 couldn't possibly be in Spider-Man's future, because Marvel-Earth is NOT in Killraven's past. What warrants this conclusion? Simply this: it is highly improbably that in 1900 on Marvel-Earth the Martians attacked as in H.G. Well's original book. Had they, it seems improbable that the world of reality of Marvel-Earth of the 30's (Doc Savage), 40's (Invaders) and 60's (Fantastic Four) would have turned out as depicted in the wake of the Martian aftermath. It also seems improbable that the inception of the mass super-hero population of the 70s wouldn't have found some way to stem a possible Martian invasion before it could occur. Although we do not know for certain that all Marvel's heroes will be dead or retired by the time of the Martian invasion of 2001, one imagines that some would still answer the clarion call to save Earth -- if indeed the War of the Worlds were actually one of Earth's futures. We all know that Doom's time platform can travel to alternate realities (as witnessed in Fantastic Four #152), so Spidey could have easily gone to the future of another Earth besides his own. Remember that the future is wide open, and there's no reason to tie all future down to Marvel-Earth.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Spider-Man is still time traveling. No Spidey appearances should take place between Marvel Team-Up #44 and this issue. This issue has been moved back in time significantly from its publishing date in order to accommodate all the dependencies.

References:

• Killraven's story began in Amazing Adventures #18.
  
• Killraven sees a vision of Volcana Ash, who is supposed to be searching for her sister with Adam and Eve, as shown in Amazing Adventures #31.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A