SHATTERED LANDS
Type: Essentially Earth-like alien dimension
Environment: Magical realm
Usual means of access: Magic (Shaman was able to transport Alpha Flight there using the magical Great Key)
Dominant life form: None
Significant Inhabitants: The Great Beasts (Kariooq,
Kolomaq,
Neooqtoq
the Ravager, Ranaq,
Somon,
Tanaraq, Tolomaq,
Tundra);
formerly that planet's native inhabitants
Aliases: Realm of the Beasts
First Appearance: Alpha Flight I#24 (July, 1985)
History:
(Alpha Flight I#24 (fb) - BTS) - Once an inhabitable planet, the
Shattered Lands existed in a dimension adjacent to Earth. Roughly a
million years ago, the Great Beasts rose in the realm and
began pillaging and corrupting the planet.
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe
Edition I#12 - Realm of the Beasts Appendix entry - BTS) - All life on
the planet was extinguished by the Great Beasts.
(Alpha Flight I#24 (fb) - BTS) - After they had exhausted all that existed in their realm (living and non-living), the Great Beasts traversed into other realms to do the same, leaving the souls of the realm's deceased in the Pit of Ultimate Sadness. After attacking Earth three times, the Great Beasts were mystically sealed behind a barrier, trapping them in their own barren realm.
(Immortal Hulk I#4 (fb) - BTS) - During an experiment
with Gamma radiation in the Arctic Circle, Dr. Walter Langkowski
exposed himself to large amounts of Gamma radiation, ultimately
transforming himself into the beastial Sasquatch, and the controlled
Gamma bombardment opened a doorway to the Shattered Lands, through
which the Great Beast Tanaraq's spirit emerged and possessed the body
of Dr. Langkowski.
(Alpha Flight I#24) - In the modern era, during an effort to rescue the spirit of Walter Langkowski, Shaman used the Great Key to allow Alpha Flight travel into the Shattered Lands. Once there, they were attacked by the Great Beast Somon, who summoned Tundra, Kariooq, and Tolomaq against them.
Snowbird battled Somon, eventually forcing him to relinquish control of the other Great Beasts and causing them to battle one another. Forcing the now-weakened Somon to reveal to them the location of Walter Langkowski's spirit, Alpha Flight ventured to the Pit of Ultimate Sadness, located beneath the Great Glow-Globe of Phistash-Hasrak, where Somon explained that the souls of those who once inhabited the realm laid in torture.
Within the Pit, Somon explained to Alpha Flight that, in order to enter the Pit's Well of Sorrows, they must sacrifice love, hate and power. Sending Aurora (representing love), Northstar (representing hate) and Talisman (representing power) into the Well, Alpha Flight soon realized the Well was a trap set by Somon. Snowbird quickly killed Somon and the three trapped Alphans were reunited with the rest of the team.
Shaman soon deduced from Somon's trap that no actual souls still remained within the Well of Sorrows, but rather, the only wandering soul--Langkowski's--resided above the Well, within the Glow-Globe of Phistash-Hasrak. Containing Langkowski's soul within a globe of its own from his pouch, Shaman then transported Alpha Flight back to Earth, where they met with Heather Hudson and Box (Roger Bochs), who relinquished his robot form to house Langkowski's soul.
(Alpha Flight I#64) - Energy bursting out from Wanda Langkowski (aka. Sasquatch) created a portal to the Shattered Lands and Paradise. The Great Beasts retreated to the Shattered Lands after a short battle with Sasquatch, Snowbird and the Inua.
(X-Man I#40 (fb) - BTS) - X-Man (Nate Grey) saw the Great Beasts' domain in Tundra's mind.
(Wolverine II#172) - The Inua banished Mauvais (Jean-Pierre Beaubier) to the Shattered Lands; he was found by the Great Beasts, who discussed whether to throw him back to Earth or not.
(Omega Flight I#3) – The Wrecking Crew were drawn through a
portal to the Shattered Lands; upon entering, they came face-to-face
with Tanaraq. Unaware they had been followed by Simon Walters (alter-ego
of Beta Ray Bill), the Wrecking Crew were surprised when Beta Ray Bill
arrived and attacked them. The force of their attacks erupted from the
portal’s location in the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada.
(Omega Flight I#4) – With the portal opened, demons from the Shattered
Lands invaded Earth, taking down Omega
Flight’s helicopter as they arrived on the scene. The team began
battling the demons as Tanaraq took possession of Sasquatch’s form and
forced him to battle Omega Flight as well. When Michael Pointer arrived
on the scene, he refused to kill Sasquatch, but Tanaraq replied that he
had no qualms against killing.
(Omega Flight I#5) - While Omega Flight battled the Shattered Lands
demons, Talisman helped Walter Langkowski drive Tanaraq from his body
and imprison him inside Shaman’s mystic medicine pouch. Beta Ray Bill
then flew the pouch and the chasing demons back through the portal to
the Shattered Lands and demanded Michael Pointer seal the portal behind
him. Beta Ray Bill then continued to fight the Shattered Lands
inhabitants in their own realm.
(Chaos War: Alpha Flight#1) - The Great Beasts summoned Sasquatch to their realm and asked him for his aid against the Chaos King. The Great Beasts then returned Sasquatch with his deceased former teammates (Guardian, Marrina, Shaman & Vindicator) back to Earth to fight the Chaos King and his army.
Comments: Created by John Byrne and Bob Wiacek.
Thanks to Markus Raymond for adding Alpha Flight I#64, X-Man I#40, Wolverine II#172 & Chaos War: Alpha Flight#1.
New and additional images by Ron Fredricks.
The Marvel Database Wiki lists the Shattered Lands/Realm of the Great Beasts as appearing in Amazing X-Men II#10-12 but I'm not 100% convinced that the realm we see in those issues is actually the Shattered Lands/Realm of the Great Beasts. The realm the X-Men go to where the Great Beasts are fighting one another is only ever referred to as "the Spirit Realm" and the realm they visit doesn't really look so much like the Shattered Lands we'd seen previously. No stone ruins devoid of any color whatsoever. It resembles more of an actual spiritual realm with a cloudy, apparition-like mist in the air. We do see dead trees but again, no stone ruins and there is some muted color to the surroundings such as a bluish hue to the atmosphere and dark-colored dead trees. Given that the Great Beasts' previous appearance prior to this storyline was in Chaos War: Alpha Flight#1, where the Great Beasts were killed by the Chaos King, it's possible the Spirit Realm visited by the X-Men in Amazing X-Men II#10-12 was actually some sort of spiritual afterlife realm that the Great Beasts had been banished to following their physical deaths at the hands of the Chaos King? That would at least explain why it didn't quite look like the Shattered Lands/Realm of the Great Beasts we had seen prior...With these differences and potential explanation in mind, I have not included the Amazing X-Men issues in this profile since we don't really have any direct evidence to support that "Spirit Realm" being the "Shattered Lands," other than the Great Beasts being there, which, to me, is not definitive enough evidence.
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Shattered Lands have no known connections to:
The Great Key has no known connections to:
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Its origins unrevealed, the Great Key was a magical item contained within Shaman's mystic medicine pouch. It allowed its wielders to travel to the Shattered Lands. After chanting a magical incantation, Shaman used it to transport himself and the members of Alpha Flight to the extradimensional realm so they could retrieve the soul of Walter Langkowski. --Alpha Flight I#24 |
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images: (without ads)
Alpha Flight I#24, p10-11 (main image - Shattered Lands)
Alpha Flight I#24, p26, pan1 (Pit of Ultimate Sadness)
Alpha Flight I#24, p6, pan4 (Shaman pulls Great Key from medicine pouch)
Alpha
Flight I#24, p7, pan1 (Shaman activates Great Key; Northstar, Aurora,
Snowbird, Puck, Talisman, Heather Hudson [background])
Appearances:
Alpha Flight I#24 (July, 1985) - John Byrne (writer, pencils), BobWiacek (inks), Dennis O’Neil (editor)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition I#12
(November, 1986) - Mark Gruenwald (writer, producer), Peter Sanderson,
Steve Saffel (writers, researchers), Eliot Brown (technical
illustrator), James Fry, Art Nichols (art enhancers), Josef Rubinstein
(inks, embellishes), Jim Shooter (editor-in-chief)
Alpha Flight I#64 (November, 1988) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Jim Lee (pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Carl Potts (editor)
X-Men#40 (July, 1998) - Terry Kavanagh (writer), Richard Pace (pencils), Bud Larosa (inks), Glenn Greenberg (editor)
Wolverine II#172 (March, 2002) - Frank Tieri (writer), Sean Chen (pencils), Norm Rapmund (inks), Mime Marts (editor)
Omega Flight#3 (August, 2007) – Michael Avon Oeming (wirter), Scott Kolins (art), Andy Schmidt (editor)
Omega Flight#4 (September, 2007) – Michael Avon Oeming (writer), Scott Kolins (art), Andy Schmidt (editor)
Omega Flight#5 (October, 2007) – Michael Avon Oeming (writer), Scott Kolins (art), Andy Schmidt (editor)
Chaos War: Alpha Flight#1 (January, 2011) - Jim McCann (writer), Reilly Brown (pencils), Terry Pallott (inks)
Immortal Hulk I#4 (October, 2018) - Al Ewing (writer), Joe Bennett (pencils), Ruy Jose (inks), Wil Moss, Tom Brevoort (editors)
First posted: 11/21/2012
Last updated: 04/16/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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