What is the Void in Marvel Comics?

The Microverse, a microscopic universe comprised of several matryoshka-style parallel universes all encompassed within the folds of our own, was once the site of a Symbiote invasion. Using Pym particles, superheroes like Ant-Man can travel through an artificial nexus triggered by rapid reduction and access the hidden worlds. One of these tiny universes is the Quantum Void, one of two larger universes the Quantum Realm is contained within. While there isn’t a specific location called the Quantum Void in Marvel comics, it could be a call back to The Negative Zone.

What is the Negative Zone?

The Negative Zone was introduced in the Fantastic Four series in 1966, three years after Sub-Atomica, another universe within the Quantum Realm, was unveiled. Discovered by Mr. Fantastic, The Negative Zone is an alien universe that is composed of anti-matter. In order for entities to travel through this realm they are essentially unmade by reversing their polarity on a molecular level and remade as anti-matter versions of the same being. An older universe, the Negative Zone is contracting, rather than expanding, and it’s doomed to implode. Combine that with time’s tendency to pass more quickly within the zone, and you have a perfect cage for interdimensional baddies like Kang, or comic villains like Galactus.

The reason behind the name change for the location could lie in the development of the Quantum Realm for Ant-Man. The first and second titles in the series were released before Disney’s 2019 acquisition of 21st Century Fox. The merger gave Disney access to all Fantastic Four properties – which were the originators of many of the Quantum Realm ideas. The classic comic may have created many of the interesting storylines around the mini-universe, but the series never named it. Instead, the title came from a toy line. The Micronauts series was developed as a tie-in so American toy company, Mego could sell a Japanese toy line called Microman. While the toys would ultimately fail to make an impression on American youth, the Micronauts comic continued to sell until well after the toy line disappeared. Unfortunately, the setting of the comic was still owned by Mego and Marvel would have to change up the name for good.