The Exiles have always been a band of multiversal heroes, working together to overcome the threats posed to the multiverse by worlds that go off the rails. This included when the Time-Eater — a variant of Kang the Conqueror that had killed and weaponized the power of Galactus — began wiping out realities. The survivors of these worlds were ultimately recruited to a new team of Exiles, dedicated to stopping its rampage from wiping out any more lives.
With Captain Carter making her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in What If?…, it’s worth looking back at one of her most prominent variants from the comics and how she ended up on one of the wildest teams of multiversal Marvel heroes ever in Exiles by Saladin Ahmed, Javier Rodriguez, Rod Reis, and Joe Quinones.
CAPTAIN CARTER & BECKY BARNES
Earth-86315 deviated from the core-Marvel Universe of Earth-616 when a Nazi spy was able to assassinate both Doctor Erskine and Steve Rogers before the completion of Project Rebirth. Howard Stark was able to convince the Peggy Carter of this reality to go through the process instead and was transformed by the Super Soldier Serum into her world’s version of Captain America — a title the British-born Carter took some time to adjust to.
She also gained a sidekick in the form of Becky Barnes, this world’s incarnation of Bucky. The pair fought against the Nazi forces of their world with grit and resolve, and were eventually dragged into the missions of the Exiles when they were brought forward as witnesses to their tampering in other realities.
BLINK
Blink is one of the last survivors of the Age of Apocalypse, a reality where the chaos caused by Legion traveling back in time and accidentally killed his father set in motion events that ruined the world. Blink was saved from that reality and deposited into the original Exiles, where she effectively became the team’s leader.
Even after a brief departure from the team, she was eventually returned to the roster and served as the glue for many incarnations of the group. When the threat of the Time-Eater endangered the entire multiverse, Blink was given another version of the Tallus — the mysterious device that is attached to the leader of the Exiles — and sent to recruit a team to help protect all the realities endangered.
VALKYRIE
In the reality of Earth-22681, Asgard was left without a defender when Thor died in battle. This resulted in Odin spreading his power into multiple infants and training the girls to become the new Lone Defender of Asgard — eventually settling on the woman who’d become known as the Valkyrie.
She quickly proved her worth, even holding her own against the likes of Surtur while serving under the command of Odin. A skilled and boisterous warrior, Valkyrie became one of the Exiles’ most powerful fighters. She also quickly struck up a romance with Becky Barnes, which played out across the course of the series.
IRON LAD
Iron Lad is one of the many variants of Kang the Conqueror, one of Marvel’s most dangerous villains. The time-traveling despot has frequently been a major enemy of the Avengers, but a younger incarnation of him — introduced in Young Avengers by Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung — learned of his fate and rebelled. Taking up the mantle of Iron Lad, he ventured to the present-day and became a founding member of the Young Avengers.
Although he was forced to return to his proper place in the time-stream, a version of Iron Lad who had remained in his own time period joined this version of the Exiles when the Time-Eater consumed his world. His friendly demeanor betrayed his dark eventual fate, and he was eventually forced to embrace it to ensure the rest of the team could escape a time-loop they’d been placed in by the Watchers.
KHAN
Khan was an older and more brutal variant of Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel. In her reality, Khan had been a heroic figure and eventually grew into one of the major defenders of her world. She even had the chance to start a family with her world’s version of her best friend, Bruno. But eventually, war broke out between the different factions of this world — resulting in the deaths of Khan’s family at the hands of her world’s Sabretooth.
Khan was seemingly lost early in the Exiles’ mission, later revealed to be the new leader of a dark version of the Exiles composed of cruel counterparts to the current roster. Seeing the error of her ways, Khan helped defeat her own team — and the eventual restoration of the lost worlds meant the revival Khan’s reality completely, even bringing back her family and undoing the dark events of her past.
WOLVIE
Wolvie is one of the many versions of the X-Babies — a recreation of the X-Men in adorable, profitable form. While the originals were created by Mojo in X-Men Annual #12 by Chris Claremont and Art Adams, the version who appears in Exiles instead hails from a cartoonish and bright world designed like an early Disney animated short.
Wolvie is one of the residents of the Playtime Fun School, a silly and loveable version of the Xavier Institute. He’s also a dedicated rival to Lil’Magneto, although the pair seem to share a friendly animosity at worst. Wolvie quickly became the heart of his Exiles, developing a bond with the whole team (but particularly King, the final recruit of the group).
KING
King was the T’Challa of Earth-18136, a timeline where the Marvel heroes and villains were born in the era of the American Old West. In this reality, his father’s death came at the hands of this world’s Erik Magnus and his gang of outlaws.
Chasing him down to the American frontier, King departed Wakanda even though doing so meant he would be forbidden to return. Working alongside the Exiles, King was able to gain revenge for the loss of his father and slew Magnus. Like Captain America and Becky Barnes, he was brought fully into the Exiles after he was called upon as a witness to their crimes, at which point he formally joined the team.
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