Season 1: Eternal Night Falls/Lore

Overview[]

This page will provide a condensed version of the story-line told for Season 1: Eternal Night Falls through Events, Gallery Cards, and Hero Stories. Some of the lore texts may be broken up into parts in order to put the story chronologically. Side-Stories are events which are not directly related to the rest of the storyline and/or could take place at any point during the season.

Main Storyline[]

Thicker than Blood [Gallery Card #3][]

Doctor Doom brings Dracula a piece of Chronovium, telling him that it is a shard of pure time. He theorizes that with a drop of Dracula's blood, he could have control over time in a limited area, which could lock a city in an eternal night. If Dracula were to take residence in New York City, it would keep the heroes busy and allow Doctor Doom to search for the Darkhold. While suspicious, Dracula accepts Doctor Doom's offer.

Ancient Game [Gallery Card #4][]

Before the Timestream Entanglement, Doctor Doom visited Doctor Strange looking for the Darkhold. Strange, figuring Doctor Doom would likely come looking for it again, hid the Darkhold in the Astral Plane. When the Timestream Entanglement occurred, Doctor Strange was lost in the Astral Plane. While there, he went to check on the Darkhold but found it had fallen into the hands of the Egyptian Moon God, Khonshu, who wanted Strange to use the Montesi Formula to eliminate all vampires, which would include any civilians who had been turned. Strange challenged Khonshu to a game of Senet for his freedom and the Darkhold, which he wins and leaves the Astral Plane. However, in his escape, the pages of the Darkhold were scattered.

Eternal Night Falls [Gallery Card #1][]

New York City has become trapped in an endless night shortly after the Timestream Entanglement. Vampires have begun to roam the streets and it is Dracula himself has taken up residence in Central Park. The Fantastic Four, Squirrel Girl, Moon Knight, Cloak & Dagger, and other heroes are patrolling the streets, rescuing citizens from the vampires, except for Spider-Man, who is said to have went through a portal into the future. Tony Stark and Reed Richards are said to be at odds on how to end the endless night and how many losses are acceptable.

Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown [Map Description][]

Once the Darkhold's pages were scattered, Dracula deployed all his forces to find one page, "The Vampiric Verses." The heroes argue whether they should use the "Montesi Formula" to eliminate all the vampires, and Reed decides he needs to find it before others could use it.

At Your Service [Gallery Card #2][]

H.E.R.B.I.E. informs a visitor to the Baxter Building that all of the Fantastic Four are currently occupied. Reed Richards and Tony Stark are working on a prototype Timestream Reintegration Device to hopefully repair the Timestream Entanglement and free New York City of the eternal night. Invisible Woman is on reconnaissance mission in Central Park to find more information about the vampire army. Human Torch and Spider-Man are patrolling the streets and rescuing civilians. Lastly, The Thing is getting supplies and samples from Manhattan.

Reality Check [Mister Fantastic Hero Story #1][]

During his time trying to find a way to cure the vampirism, Mister Fantastic has a meeting with an alternate version of Shuri who tells him about Wakanda’s discovery of Chronoverses and fills him in on what happened in some of those Chronoverses when the Timestream Entanglement happened. She also tells him that her brother, the Black Panther, arrived in his world with a Heart-Shaped Herb for him, to deliver it as a cure for the vampires, and hopes he is still okay. In the meantime, she and Reed agree to work together to put the universe back in place.

The Blood of Kings [Black Panther Hero Story #2][]

The Black Panther came to New York to deliver the Heart-Shaped Herb to Mister Fantastic, so he could make a cure for all the vampires running amok through the streets. Only for him to be ambushed by a pack of vampires, even Dracula himself. At first he tried to drink his blood, only for him to fail as T’Challa’s suit is impenetrable and has some effective defense mechanisms, so he tries to turn him into a vampire with his Blood Red Chronovium. While T’Challa was changed physically, he was able to resist Dracula’s control mentally. He managed to escape with his life and the Heart-Shaped Herb, but at the cost of being cursed as a vampire.

Fall of Midtown [Gallery Card #5][]

Blade learns of Dracula's takeover of New York City and heads into Central Park to face him. Dracula ambushes Blade, and even with the help Spider-Man and Human Torch, is defeated and captured. Dracula also summoned Ratatoskr, an Asgardian squirrel whose enchanted horn can end the life of any being, no matter how immortal, who he also locked up in his castle in order to take his most dangerous foes off the table.

Midnight Missions [Gallery Card #6][]

Moon Knight forms the Eternity Knights, an alliance of heroes with Iron Man, Wolverine, Winter Soldier, Adam Warlock, and Psylocke to slay the vampires, whether or not they were once civilians. They encounter a vampiric Black Panther, who formed his own faction of vampires.

Gangs of Yancy Street [The Thing Hero Story #1][]

The Thing visits Yancy Street to check on the residents while also looking for Black Panther. A boy he rescues from a vampire tells him that some of the vampires are answering to a new king who is very organized and disciplined, giving him the location they were seen. Ben goes to the location to boy says and finds the vampires' hideout, where he finds a vampirized Black Panther leading them, explaining he went into hiding until he could learn to control his hunger. T'Challa offers the Heart-Shaped Herb he brought to Ben to bring back to Reed in order to make a cure for vampirism, but Ben insists they can get more herbs and T'Challa should use it for himself now. Eating the Heart-Shaped Herb cures his vampirism but also makes T'Challa's blood irresistible to vampires. They are able to defeat the vampires when Reed shows up with a miniaturized Timestream Reintegration Device [TRD]. He attempts to use it to repair the building that was damaged in the fight but also reverts T'Challa back to a vampire as well as reverting all of the vampires they defeated back to humans.

Turning the Pages [Gallery Card #7][]

Mister Fantastic and Doctor Strange have reclaimed most of the pages of the Darkhold and plan to use the chronal energy it absorbed to power the Timestream Reintegration Device. However, before they can start, Iron Man flies in and attempts to stop them, saying that they are missing the two most powerful pages. Without the Montesi Formula and Vampiric Verses, the Timestream Reintegration Device is much more likely to fail, leaving Reed unsure what to do next.

Star Turn [Gallery Card #8][]

Human Torch plans to go supernova to provide a distraction so Invisible Woman and a group of heroes can get into Dracula's Castle.

Empire of Eternal Night: Central Park [Attackers Conclusion][]

The heroes free Ratatoskr, who is able to break the barrier around Dracula's Castle so the heroes can defeat him.

Plans Within Plans [Gallery Card #9][]

As it turns out, Doctor Doom's scheme was to use Dracula's essence to create Pure Blood Chronovium. Doctor Doom manipulated Dracula to take over New York and then secretly helped the heroes defeat Dracula so he could claim Dracula's immortal essence.

Other Lore[]

These lore texts provide background information for the storyline but are non-essential.

Midnight Features [Season Event][]

Built To Last [Invisible Woman Hero Story #1][]

Invisible Woman vents some of her frustration at H.E.R.B.I.E., which seems to upset him and he leaves. She goes to Mister Fantastic's lab to see if H.E.R.B.I.E. is there, but Reed also says he had an argument with him. H.E.R.B.I.E. formed a friendship with Tony's virtual assistant, F.R.I.D.A.Y., and wanted to accompany her while she attempted to pilot one of the Stark Sentinels, but Reed didn't think it was safe for him to go. Suddenly, they receive an emergency signal from H.E.R.B.I.E., so Sue goes out to find him. She finds him with one of the Stark Sentinels that crashed into Grand Central Station, where he says that F.R.I.D.A.Y. stopped responding after the sentinel was shot down. Sue attempts to fight of an incoming hoard of vampires but is overwhelmed but is assisted by some of Peni's Spider-Bots who also received the distress signal.

Fire Exemption Test [Human Torch Hero Story #1][]

Human Torch patrols New York every day, burning the vampires he could. One day he spots a Deviant Mutate, a large monster made of stone, which had somehow been turned into a vampire, likely sent to deal with Johnny since the humanoid vampires could not. Johnny, The Thing, and Spider-Man are able to knock the monster back into the pit it came out of.