White Event

White Event
Name	White Event
Other Names	The Light
Reality and Participants
Reality	Multiverse
Locations	Earth-555, Earth-616, Earth-148611
Protagonists	Starbrand, Nightmask, Justice, Cipher
Publication Details
Creators	Jim Shooter, John Romita Jr.
First	Star Brand #1 (July, 1986)
First	Star Brand #1 (July, 1986)

 This is a paradigm shift. The universe sends a Justice, to maintain order. A Cipher, for the technological leap. A Nightmask, for the consciousness shift. And a Starbrand, for defense. 

—Unidentified Starbrand

Synopsis

A station in the Superflow firing a White Event

In the Superflow, there were Communications/Ascension Stations built by the Builders and maintained by the Caretakers and Curators. Each station scanned their universes for a world that was about to ascend on a universal scale and/or entered the Builders' artificial "newuniversal structure." When it found one that was doing so, the station gave them a blessing, the White Event, to produce shepherds for the change: Nightmask, Starbrand, Justice, Cipher, etc.

Newuniversal

 When a world enters the newuniversal web, the machine alters several sentients on that world to act as heralds of the new time to come. Paradigm shift always creates chaos. These designates are empowered to smooth the way into the new time. A Nightmask. A Starbrand. A Justice. A Cipher. Others. 

—Communications Station

In Earth-555, the first known White Event happened in prehistory leading to Starr gaining the Starbrand and founding Zardath, alongside a Nightmask (Trull), a Cipher (Baneth), and a Justice (Ukru).

Another White Event happened at 06.48 UTC on March 2 2006. In the previous minute, the Chinese, Russian & USA's early warning systems went offline. The event, in which "Everything went White", could be seen from everywhere in the world (including New York City, Optima Down, San Francisco, Latvia & Fort Meade).

Starbrand, Nightmask, Justice, and Cipher

Consequences of The White Event

• Latvia - Landslip on Northern Coast reveals the first city of humankind, Zardath.
• San Francisco - Nightmask (Izanami Randall) wakes up in the Superflow.
• New York - Justice (John Tensen) kills Thomas Alexander Reed, his nurse.
• Optima Down - Starbrand (Kenneth Connell) gains the Starbrand but the oversplash kills his girlfriend, Maddie Felix.
• Fort Meade - Cipher (Jennifer Swann) gains her cyberpathy.
• Fort Meade - Funding for Project Spitfire is increased by a factor of 20 sixteen hours later.

Other Similar Events

Philip Voight mentions that there have been two similar events in the past, The Fireworks in the 1950s, after which he killed the last superhuman & another in 1988 caused by a volcanic eruption.

Earth-148611

A White Event was also the origin of superheroes on Earth-148611.

The Last White Event

The Last White Event

The incursions were a phenomenon where two universes would overlap at their respective Earths for eight hours, and then both universes were destroyed unless one of the Earths was destroyed first. The trend of these incursions was accelerating, and this caused a wave of destruction in the Superflow. Across reality, the stations exploded. Realizing what they were losing, the stations were ordered to fire White Events randomly, in the hopes that the worlds hit would be able to use their blessing wisely to stop the collapse.

Kevin Connor becoming Starbrand

At least one world was affected by this: Earth-616, where it was announced by Adam, a creature created by Ex Nihilo. He kept announcing it, as well as that "the universe was broken" in the language Builder Machine Code. It was Captain Universe who managed to decipher the code and the message Nightmask was giving, seconds before the White Event hit Earth. Along with Nightmask, this White Event empowered Kevin Connor and turned him into Starbrand.

After awhile the new Kree homeworld of Kree-Pama was affected by a White Event. They received the following:

• Nightmask (Mar-Sohn)
• Cipher (Joras-Kyl)
• Justice (Trrunk)
• Starbrand (Va-Sohn)

Notes

Earth-616's Earth has a Starbrand and a Nightmask, but no Cipher and Justice

• White Events usually produce a Nightmask, a Starbrand, a Justice, and a Cipher, but sometimes there are others like a Spitfire.
  • These are derived from New Universe.
• Nightmask (Adam) explains that the last White Event was a fractured, failed Event due to the system being broken thanks to the incursions, which is why it only produced a Nightmask and a Starbrand (Kevin Connor). Under normal circumstances, others like a Cipher and a Justice would have manifested.

Trivia

• Starbrands, Nightmasks, Justices, and Ciphers are the new Builder systems while the Gardeners, Abyssi, and Alephs are old ones. After the newuniversal superstructure was created, most of the Gardeners were recalled and most of the Abyssi died, except Ex Nihilo and his Abyss.
  • The Builders classify both created races like Gardeners and Abyssi, as well as ascended individuals like Starbrands and Nightmasks, as "sentient systems" and "tools" of the Builders.
• A White Event allowed Emmett Proudhawk to have a vision in the Superflow with a talking hawk. The hawk informs him about the first four that have been selected as "agents of the great mystery" and associates them with the four elements:
  • "There is a boy who lives in the sky." (Starbrand)
  • "A girl through whom this place flows like water." (Nightmask)
  • "A man who burns." (Justice)
  • "A woman who communes with this earth of machines and electricity." (Cipher)
• The Last White Event (the Light) is one of three things teased at the start of Jonathan Hickman's run on Avengers (Vol. 5). The other two are the Builder War (the War) and Time Runs Out (the Fall).

See Also

• 6 appearance(s) of White Event
• 1 minor appearance(s) of White Event
• 8 mention(s) of White Event
• 7 image(s) of White Event
• 2 article(s) related to White Event

Recommended Reading

• newuniversal #1–6 - establishes White Events in its modern interpretation.
• Avengers (Vol. 5) #7–8 - brings White Events from newuniversal (see above) to Earth-616 continuity. Establishes the Builder connection.

Links and References

• White Event at Wikipedia.org
• White Event at Comic Vine