Negative Zone

While searching for a way to travel through sub-space, Reed Richards stumbled upon a gateway to the Negative Zone.[1] He spent a fair amount of time studying it through probes, and determined that it was largely unpopulated. So much so, in fact, that he—and others—used the Negative Zone on several occasions to get rid of difficult enemies, such as the Mad Thinker's android, the Super-Adaptoid,[2] and even Galactus.[3] Reed and the Fantastic Four have since done more detailed explorations of the Zone and no longer use it to dispose of villains.

For some time, the Norse realm of Asgard was lost in the Negative Zone.[4]

In the Super-Hero Civil War, a group of heroes led by Iron Man, Mister Fantastic and Yellowjacket have created a massive prison in the Negative Zone (similar to the Vault) to house captured non-registering heroes as they wait for their trials. It is designated Negative Zone Prison Alpha but nicknamed Fantasy Island 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 are portals to it planned for every single state so prisoners can be transported there by the different teams in the Fifty State Initiative- including one at Ryker's Island. It is very clean, with sanitation, but extremely heavily guarded, including password-changes every ten minutes. Its most notable former inmates were Iron Fist (posing as Daredevil at the time), Cloak and Dagger, Speedball, Prodigy and Prowler.

It is also the setting for the final battle of the super hero civil war, as Iron Man lays a trap for Captain America but the Captain retaliates by using his planted mole, Hulkling, to release all the prisoners of 42 who come to his aid. Though in the ensuing battle Cloak manages to teleport all its superhuman detainees out, it remains 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 escapes to assist in the Purifiers crusade during the Messiah Complex.) It also holds many of the Sakaaran forces from World War Hulk.

In the one-shot Civil War: The Return, the Prison's warden was revealed as the first Captain Marvel, apparently back from the dead. Although he was later revealed as a Skrull sleeper agent named Khn'nr, whose conditioning was so strong he kept believing he was the Captain even after he had realized he really was not.

In the Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four limited series, the Skrull warrior Lyja (posing as Susan Richards) sends the Baxter Building into the Negative Zone. She reveals herself to Johnny Storm (her former spouse) and attacks him, feeling angry that he had forgotten her. During the course of their battle, Johnny saves Lyja from being hit by a police car, pulled in through the portal. The two reconcile after that, but a Negative Zone creature attacks them. They manage to defeat the creature, but Lyja passes out from her injuries. A bit later, when the "new" Fantastic Four fly off to the prison, Franklin and Valeria are grabbed by Negative Zone creatures, but Lyja saves them. Later when Ben, Johnny, Franklin, Val and the Tinkerer are ready to leave the Negative Zone she refuses to leave, because she wants to find out who she is.[5]

After the events of Secret Invasion, the inmates of the prison took control of the facility after their correction officers abandoned the prison. Blastaar later overrun the prison during the prelude to the War of Kings story arc.[6]

The Negative Zone is used to dispose of Earth-616's Galactus when he is accidentally transferred to the Ultimate Marvel universe due to the temporal distortions caused by the events of Age of Ultron. The heroes of the Ultimate Marvel universe reasoned that Galactus will starve to death in the Negative Zone because it is a universe made of antimatter and Galactus would not have anything to eat there.[7]

The Negative Zone is later visited by the Sentry, who is struggling to understand his new state of self and find a way to separate himself from the Void.[8] Upon soaking up the negative cosmic rays, the Sentry is able to separate himself from the Void but is left in the powerless form of Bob Reynolds. The Void was then drawn to the Cancerverse realm, where nothing could die, and impersonating and taking on the appearance of the Sentry, the Void became the new leader of its forces.[9] He then led them back to the Negative Zone, forcing longtime enemies Blastaar and Annihilus to team up against them to prevent the Negative Zone kingdoms from being ravaged by the Undying Ones. Led by the Revengers, an ever-growing army of zombie-esque drones slaughter and infect their way from world to world giving no quarter as they leave destruction in their wake. As their desperate attempt to defend their domain fails, both rulers discover in the process that the Void is planning to conquer the Negative Zone and its denizens before returning to his own universe to spread the Cancerverse's infection even further.[10] Annihilus then crosses into the positive matter universe to seek assistance, only to land right in the lap of Richard Ryder the last Nova, however, the past trauma at the hands of the Cancerverse, caused Ryder to flee, leaving Annihilus at the mercy of his enemies.[11] The Void then attempt to cross over into the positive Universe, but was stopped by Beta Ray Bill and Lockjaw, with Beta Ray Bill forced to sacrifice his magical hammer, Stormbreaker, in the process.[12]

Initially, it was generally believed that getting caught in the gravitational pull of the vortex at the center of the Zone meant certain death. However, some theorized that if one could survive entry into the vortex, one could travel to another dimension. However, this was only a theory until Doctor Doom gambled the lives of the Fantastic Four to prove it. Once inside the so-called Crossroads, individuals flip through a series of other parallel dimensions while progressing through. Coming to a halt seems to stabilize the Crossroads and then allows movement in the universe arrived in.

However, it still remains a risky trip for a number of reasons. First and foremost is the expenditure of energy necessary to keep from imploding. On one occasion, it required the use of both Annihilus' Cosmic Control Rod and the Invisible Woman's force field to stave off death. Second, and almost equally important, is the lack of control one has while passing through different dimensions. Even with the precise calculations of Dr. Doom, it required several hops to reach the dimension he sought.

Staying on a straight course to the very heart of the Crossroads leads one to Tyanna. Although it was believed to have been destroyed centuries earlier, the Tyannans' technology proved capable of sustaining them within the center of the vortex. Using their advanced machines, they were able to modify their bodies to exist safely in the immense pressures, but at the cost of being forced to remain hidden within the Crossroads. The Tyannans remain there, content to pursue their scientific interests.

Normally beings enter the Negative Zone through the Distortion Area. This is an invisible sphere of energy that resides in the Negative Zone but is accessible from many parts of Earth. By hitting the field with a precise wavelength of energy, a rift opens between both dimensions connected by the Distortion Area. This area acts as a buffer between the two polar opposite universes and alters a traveler's own polarity so that they may exist in the other dimension without harm.

When activated, the Distortion Area appears from the outside as a crackling energy source roughly six feet in circumference. This effect only lasts as long as the field is activated and, once closed, becomes invisible again. Nearby matter is sucked into the near-vacuum of the Distortion Area and "falls" for about 50 seconds before emerging on the other side.

The Distortion Area itself is nothing short of indescribable. Humans cannot begin to accurately fathom or record what transpires within the Distortion Area and travelers' minds try to compensate with a bizarre display of light and color. Combined with the natural turbulence in the area, many find the trip rather nauseating.

Like any other mode of transport, choosing where to enter the Distortion Area in part affects where an individual is deposited on the other side. Reed Richards' former lab in the Baxter Building, for example, deposited someone at the outskirts of the Debris Field near Arthros. A rift opened on Yancy Street, however, dropped a traveler on the planet Tarsuu.

Other methods may be employed to reach the Negative Zone but, while they tend to be more spatially accurate, they are very difficult to come by. Generally, this mode of transport is reserved by extremely powerful entities like Thor, the Supreme Intelligence, Galactus and the Watchers. Captain Mar-Vell's Nega-Bands could also transport the wearer to the Negative Zone but the precise destination was dependent upon the location of the Nega-Band's counterparts worn by Rick Jones.

One of the rather undocumented side-effects the Negative Zone has on people seems to involve bringing forth what are usually considered negative emotions. At this point, it is difficult to determine the cause of this unusual phenomenon, but a number of dealings with the Negative Zone have given the impression that something inherent within it can lead to emotional distress.

The severity of this distress can vary greatly. On a few occasions, it has manifested itself as a citywide panic. Other times, it merely caused a single person to temporarily lose their hope. Still other times, it caused several individuals to experience emotionally charged flashbacks, pulled from their subconscious. And, although it could be attributed to his psyche, Annihilus' main motivation is an obsessive fear of death.

Not all inhabitants of the Negative Zone experience anything beyond normal anxieties, but the number of known instances of unusual psychological distress seems rather high. Visitors to the Zone may or may not experience anything emotionally disturbing. While there is no concrete evidence to show the correlation the Negative Zone has with emotional discord, it remains a significant feature of the region.

As mentioned previously, the Negative Zone was originally thought to be largely uninhabited. Though this is now known to be incorrect, life having arisen on a number of its planets, the Zone is still mostly unoccupied space. Most of the encounters heroes have had with the Negative Zone revolve around Annihilus and/or Blastaar.

Curiously, for as little life as there exists in the Negative Zone, it is very capable of supporting life. There, outer space itself is permeated with an oxygen-rich atmosphere, closely approximating Earth's. Consequently, humans can exist peacefully in space without the need for cumbersome pressure suits or oxygen masks.

It is perhaps an issue of gravitational pull that is one of the biggest hindrances to life in the Negative Zone. While all objects of reasonably sized mass (planets, moons, asteroids, etc.) obviously have their own gravitational pull, it is weak enough to be overcome with minimal effort. Most heroes with flight capabilities can escape a planet's gravitational field with ease, as can any machine with the capacity for flight. Because of this lowered gravity, it is believed that vegetation has difficulty seeding properly, giving life a tenuous foothold at best on any given planet.

Moisture also seems to be an issue in the dearth of life in the Negative Zone. While each planet has hardly been explored in full, many of the ones studied—including those that are inhabited—have shown few, if any, natural water sources. Most planets appear to be very arid, with cultures adapting to the lack of moisture much as was done on Earth's deserts.

Being a different dimension with different laws of physics, time flows differently in the Negative Zone than it does on Earth. Although a comprehensive analysis has never been completed, preliminary findings suggest that two weeks pass in the Negative Zone for every hour on Earth, making a 336:1 ratio. On a smaller scale, every minute on Earth is a little over five and half hours in the Negative Zone.

It seems, however, that this ratio changes as one approaches the center of the Negative Zone. Since there have been several instances of pan-dimensional conversations between the two planes, it appears the time ratio is much closer to 1:1 when one is at the nexus of the Negative Zone. It is currently unclear at what rate the time difference increases as one moves away from the vortex or if there is an upper limit to how great the difference between the two universes can become.

The Negative Zone includes the following planets:

• Argor – A planet that is home to the Argorans.
• Arthros – A planet that is home to Annihilus and the Arthosians (a race of insectoids).
• Baluur – A planet that is home to Blastaar.
• Kestor – A planet that was destroyed causing the Kestorians to become nomads.
• Tarsuu –
• Tyanna – A planet that is home to the Tyannans (a race of lion-like aliens). Tyanna is located at the Crossroads of Infinity. The Tyannan scientists genetically engineered a spore that could be scattered over an uninhabited planet's surface where they can grow into new plants and animals. This terraforming made the planet habitable.

The Ultimate Marvel equivalent of the Negative Zone was originally called the N-Zone, a zone that exists directly below the Ultimate Marvel universe. It is tied to the powers granted to the Fantastic Four and is the homeplace of the Ultimate Fantastic Four villain Nihil. The N-Zone is a universe in the later stages of entropic heat death, with less than a million years of existence left to it. There are few stars still burning, mostly long-lived red dwarf stars, and despite the advanced technology of many races, life barely maintains a toehold on its existence. Space is also apparently foreshortened in this universe, with the Fantastic Four's shuttle Awesome achieving speeds that would be impossible in our own universe. It has an atmosphere that is lethally acidic to humans and the Ultimate Fantastic Four, with the exception of the Thing, required space suits to live.[20]

Later it was reckoned that the N-Zone is one of many other zones, labeled with letters (e.g. the Z-Zone and the Q-Zone) implying that the N is merely a categorization, not a shortening of the word "negative" therefore no longer connected to the Negative Zone.[21] A proper Negative Zone was eventually introduced in the Ultimate Marvel where The Ultimates confront Reed Richards.[22]

In an alternate reality depicted in the 2021 "Heroes Reborn" miniseries, the Negative Zone is used by the Squadron Supreme of America to imprison Earth's most dangerous villains, such as General Annihilus, Doctor Juggernaut, the Hulk, Mister Beyonder, Namor, and Hank Pym / Ultron.[23]

• The Negative Zone appears in the 1994 Fantastic Four episode, "Behold the Negative Zone".
• In a scripted, but unproduced episode of Silver Surfer titled "Down to Earth" Part 3, Reed Richards uses the Negative Zone as a means to contain Terrax.
• The Negative Zone appears in Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes. This version is depicted as an alternate dimension inhabited by an array of various serpentine and insectoid creatures. According to Doctor Doom, the Negative Zone is a nexus for various other universes and claims that he discovered it years before Reed Richards.
• The Negative Zone appears in the Iron Man: Armored Adventures episode "The Makluan Invasion". It is depicted as a dark empty void which the Mandarin banished S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Helicarrier to before rescuing it at the end of the episode following the titular event.
• The Negative Zone appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. It debuts in the episode "The Man Who Stole Tomorrow", when Thor, Ant-Man, and the Wasp place Blizzard in Negative Zone Prison 42. In the episode "Assault on 42", Annihilus and his insectoid slaves attack Prison 42, but were defeated by the joint forces of Captain America, Thor, Wasp, Miss Marvel, and the imprisoned supervillains of Prison 42. In the episode "Avengers Assemble", Mister Fantastic and Iron Man create a portal to the Negative Zone to send Galactus there to feed on its infinite anti-matter instead of Earth, using Galactus's own emitted energy as a tractor beam.
• The Negative Zone appears in the Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. episodes "Doorway to Destruction", "Into the Negative Zone", and "Days of Future Smash" Pt. 5.

In the original script for the Fantastic Four reboot by Jeremy Slater, the Negative Zone was reinvented as a planet that was home to ancient alien civilization before being destroyed by Galactus. However, after re-shoots and edits, the Negative Zone was renamed Planet Zero, and reworked into a planet with a cracked landscape and unstable energy that becomes the source of the titular characters' and Victor von Doom's mutations.[24][25]

• The Negative Zone appears in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2. It contains "Prison 42", a prison for unregistered heroes and nanite-controlled supervillains, and where the Fold first becomes active before Nick Fury destroyed it to keep the Fold from invading Earth.
• The Negative Zone appears in the Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet video game.