Great Cataclysm

Name	Great Cataclysm
Other Names	Cataclysm, Great Fall, Great Flood, Great Deluge, Great Catastrophe, Great Devastation, Fall of Atlantis, Fall of Lemuria and Atlantis, Lemurian Cataclysm, Deluge, Flood, Sinking of Atlantis The Floods of Noah, The Upheaval Second Host
Reality and Participants
Reality	Earth-616
Locations	Atlantis; Lemuria, Mu
Protagonists	Celestials, Atlanteans, King Kamuu
Antagonists	Deviants, Emperor Phraug, Atra
Others	Spore, Zhered-Na
Publication Details
First	Namora #1 (May, 1948)
First	Namora #1 (May, 1948)

This page presents the interleaved events of the Great Flood, Atlantis and Lemuria's destruction, and the Second Host of the Celestials on Earth.

 ...the Celestials witnessed it all, this world fallen into chaos -- and they delivered their judgment! A Celestial weapon unleashed an explosion such as humanity had never seen before or has seen since -- so powerful that it rocked the entire planet -- plunging it into the worldwide disaster known as the Great Cataclysm! All of Lemuria as well as Atlantis sank beneath the raging seas! Most of the Deviants perished amidst the earthquakes and floods! The Deviant race would survive but their empire was finished! The Eternals, a race of superhuman beings created by the Celestials, were helpless to save most of the victims of the great deluge -- but one Eternal, Ikaris, guided a huge Ark filled with human beings and animals to safety! 

—Uatu the Watcher

Synopsis

Overview

The "Great Cataclysm" (sometimes just the "Cataclysm", Great Fall, Great Flood, the Flood or Great Deluge) caused Lemuria and Atlantis to be submerged into the sea 20,000 years ago (circa 18,000 BC) (other dates are sometimes provided, see notes).

Causes

Many events have been listed as reasons for that Cataclysm:

The Second Host

• This event is tied with the Second Host of the Celestials, who observed how the Eternals had ignored baseline humanity while the Deviants enslaved it.
• Another tale, from Poseidon himself, stated that the Atlanteans' council of sorcerers tried to harness a fraction of the power of the Axis Mundi using the Omphalos but were unable to control the energies, causing the Cataclysm.
• Many tales attribute the Cataclysm to godly powers:
  • During the Hyborian Age, it was recounted that the Sea-Gods of Lemuria waxed angry and pulled the island of Lemuria down into the ocean.
  • Astarta stated that at the same moment the oceans swallowed Atlantis' cities, the ancient Sea-God of Mu rose and caused the destruction of the coastal cities of the kingdom.
  • Annunaki god Dagon planned to annihilate humanity with a great flood, but Ea persuaded him to only punish them.
  • According to the Bible (Genesis 6-9) and from a tale from Caretaker Sara, when God looked down at the Earth and saw the wickedness of man, he caused the Flood.
  • Other tales of godly-originated floods exist, but can't be confirmed as being the Great Cataclysm due to inconsistencies towards it. Please consult the notes for more information.
• Llan also played an undescribed role in the Cataclysm, perhaps in conjunction with the Dweller in Darkness, the Darkholders, the Deviants, or others of the major threats of that era.
• The cybernetic alien entity known as the Suit stated that the Great Flood never occurred and that stories of it are nothing more than greatly exaggerated and mythologized accounts based on his species' first attempt to wipe out humanity, which had been postponed due to inclement weather and then aborted when they discovered they had been tricked by the unnamed entity that had first commissioned the genocide.
• A few other causes for the Cataclysm were hypothesized, though it is unrevealed whether these actually had any influence on that event, locally or globally:
  • The tremendously powerful magnet created by the renegade Atlantean scientist Nagorbu.
  • The mass of the giant Atlantean Kalgantor, growing to cosmic proportions after having abused of the Magic Growth Serum prepared by Pir Anthor under the instructions of the Black One.
  • The Hearth of Darkness, an extraterrestrial weapon which crash-landed on Earth the night Atlantis was destroyed.
  • A set of magic gems called "The Madripoor Set", linked to a temple next to the modern city. The last time they were all assembled at once was concurrent with the fall of Atlantis.
  • Gremlins, led by Kloto, repeatedly stole and restored an object called the Sacred Ball, which granted protective magic to Atlantis, in a fashion which maybe disrupted the magic.

The Flood

The Celestials destroyed most of the Deviants, and their stronghold of Lemuria, causing it to sink below the ocean, which also caused the sinking of Atlantis.

The Ark

The Ark carrying survivors from the Flood

The event kickstarted the myth of Noah's Ark because of the surviving group of Eternals and humans led by Utnapishtim on his Ark to escape the flood.

Aftermaths

Once the flood went away, Yahweh allegedly put a rainbow in the sky as a promise to the survivors (that survived in an Ark) that he would never again smite every living thing on Earth.

Alternate realities

Earth-1610

The cataclysm that destroyed Atlantis was caused by the Tan-Ed-Drul.

Notes

• The Great Cataclysm is based off the Biblical Flood (possibly a legendary retelling from historical floods, such as the Black Sea deluge) and similar mythological Flood myths.
• Some sources states the Great Cataclysm occurred in other dates than circa 18,000 BC, such as:
  • circa 10,000 BC during the Hyborian Age of Conan.
  • circa 18,500 BC during the Age of Kull.
• Though mentions of the Cataclysm occuring 10,000 years ago could fit the Post-Hyborian Cataclysm, they are likely to be an error of datation.
  • Such cases include the story "The Kingdom Beneath the Sea" (Namora #1), which depicts the sinking of the island of Mu as occurring ten thousand years ago. This can be ruled as an error, given the Great Cataclysm's profile in Blockbusters of the Marvel Universe #1 lists the sinking of Mu in Namora #1 as the earliest key chronicle referenced listed in its infobox.
• Other Cataclysms could be tied to the Great Cataclysm, including:
  • In Aztec religion, the world under the Fourth Sun was destroyed by the feud between Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca which caused a cataclysmic flood. That flood happened before the creation of mortals.
  • The destruction of Kalumesh after being accursed could be another consequence of the Great Cataclysm; there is little information to confirm or deny it, but the lost and evil city destroyed in the Great Cataclysm is a common trope in the stories of Robert E. Howard, credited for concepts featured in "The Shadows of the Starstone!" (Marvel Premiere #7; (March, 1973), written by Gardner Fox and penciled by Craig Russell.

See Also

• 4 minor appearance(s) of Great Cataclysm
• 60 mention(s) of Great Cataclysm
• 8 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Great Cataclysm
• 2 image(s) of Great Cataclysm
• 38 article(s) related to Great Cataclysm

Links and References

• Media the Second Host was mentioned in
• Pages referring to the "Second Host" event