Fantastic Four Reveals Exactly How She-Hulk Caused the Reckoning War

Warning: Contains spoilers for Fantastic Four #40!

In a preview for Fantastic Four #40, Marvel finally reveals the connection between She-Hulk and the universe-shaking event Reckoning War, which is based on 16 years of set-up and backstory. Jennifer Walters is accused of being one of the causes behind this conflict of immense proportions, and the reason why is now clear.

When Reckoning War was announced, writer Dan Slott teased that he planted the seeds for this event during his run on She-Hulk. The details of the event, however, were kept a secret, especially the identity of the villain behind this new crisis for the Marvel Universe. The two things known were that the godlike race of the Watchers was involved, and that She-Hulk made a mistake when she was called to be a cosmic judge in a dispute between one of the Watchers, Qyre, and a species aptly called the Recluses, who could not bear being constantly observed.

In She-Hulk vol. 1 #7, by Dan Slott and Juan Bobillo, Jennifer is recruited by the supreme being known as the Living Tribunal to act as a “Magistrati” in this quarrel, and she rules that the Watcher Qyre will still observe the Recluses’ area of space, but will no longer communicate what he witnesses back to the other Watchers. Because the Watchers take their oaths very seriously, Qyre seals his mouth forever. In She-Hulk #20, however, it was shown that the Recluses had been wiped out by a mysterious, armor-clad creature, who took advantage of Qyre’s silence to use that “dark” sector of space as the beachhead for his “war on creation.” It was just one panel, but 16 years later – in a preview of Fantastic Four #40 shared by CBR – readers finally know what that was all about.

In the preview, the leader of the Reckoning, Wrath, walks on Obscura Minor, the home planet of the Raj-Lek (the real name of the Recluses). He is there to mock his prisoner, Qyre, one last time before killing him. It is revealed that all the Raj-Lek have been slaughtered by Wrath’s lieutenants (the figure shown in She-Hulk #20 must have been one of them, or Wrath himself) and that Obscura Minor is now the staging ground for the Reckoning’s war against the Marvel Universe. Sealed away in a toxic, hidden universe eons ago by the Watchers, the Reckoning have come back for their vengeance, but they needed a staging ground from which to operate. She-Hulk’s ruling in the Raj-Lek case gave them just that.

What’s tragic is that in Fantastic Four: Reckoning War Alpha, agents of the Time Variance Authority let slip that while the Reckoning War could change in several ways as an event in the future of the Marvel Universe, one of the few constants is that it’s always She-Hulk’s fault. It turns out that in her original ruling, She-Hulk made a mistake of cosmic significance, and it’s one that no matter how the timeline might change always leads to this vast invasion of reality.

She-Hulk was informed years ago of the coming of the Reckoning War by the Time Variance Authority, who wanted to erase her from history because of the future consequences of her actions. Jennifer was spared that fate, but the crisis could not be avoided. Now that the Reckoning War is here, the entire Marvel Universe will have to pay the price for She-Hulk‘s actions.

Source: CBR

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