| Limbo | |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | The Avengers #2, (November 1963) |
| Created by | Stan Lee (writer) Jack Kirby (artist) |
| In story information | |
| Type | Dimension |
| Notable people | Immortus Space Phantom Tempus |
| Notable races | Space Phantoms |
Limbo, may refer to several fictional locations in titles published by Marvel Comics. The concept debuted in The Avengers #2, (November 1963), and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
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Limbo is the name for two separate dimensions in the Marvel Universe. Each Limbo shares some characteristics though neither are explicitly intended to be the Catholic Limbo. Each is a sort of "pocket universe", whose physical and temporal scope are extremely limited compared to the universe that ordinary human beings inhabit. To those within each, it appears roughly analogous to a planet, with a solid surface at one earth gravity and a sky devoid of stars. The first Limbo, also known as "Otherplace" is a magical dimension of demons which were historically ruled by Belasco and was primarily featured in X-Men comics. The second Limbo, also known as "True Limbo" is a place outside of time historically ruled by Immortus and the location to which Rom the Spaceknight banished the Dire Wraiths.
Temporal Limbo, also called "true Limbo," exists outside of time and is ruled by Immortus from his castle Tenebrae, which is the primary point of interest there. Its primary occupants are the giant Tempus, the Space Phantoms, and Immortus. Temporal Limbo has primarily been visited by the Avengers and their allies, such as Thor. Thor once tried saving the planet Phantus, home of the Space Phantoms, from Limbo by expending all of Mjolnir's time travel abilities. It was later revealed in Avengers Forever that Phantus had just been a hoax. Kang the Conqueror's city-base of Chronopolis was depicted as existing outside of time, and therefore could have been in temporal Limbo. Kang was once thrown into this Limbo when Thor destroyed his time-travel ship, where he found the castle of Immortus, from which he could view numerous time peroids. He saved Ravonna from the moment before death and from Limbo destroyed nearly every version of himself. He was driven insane when Immortus tricked him into absorbing the memories of the Kangs that were destroyed in Limbo and ran out of the castle of Immortus.
Instead of killing his foes, Rom the Spaceknight banished Dire Wraiths to a zone called Limbo. At first blush, this seemed as if it might have been a third limbo, but a canon reference to the Dire Wraiths as denizens of temporal Limbo was made in Avengers volume 1 #268[1].
This Limbo is also referred to as Otherplace. It first appeared in X-Men #160. (It has sometimes been erroneously called "Otherworld"; however, in the Marvel Universe, Otherworld is actually the home dimension of the beings who empower and oversee the Captain Britain Corps, and should not be confused with "Other-Earth", homeworld of Kang the Conqueror.) Limbo's physical laws are primarily magical, though laws of the ordinary universe (such as electromagnetism and gravity) normally apply within its bounds.