Am I the Only One Who Thinks Marvel Just Quietly Changed Its Entire Timeline?

I have a terrifying theory that, in the Marvel

Universe, Hydra, the Nazis, and the Axis powers won World War II. While I know this sounds outlandish, Marvel has already played with this idea in the past. But now, Marvel has once again toyed with the idea that the Allies were destined to falter in the face of global authoritarianism. All it comes down to is a single decision.

…Marvel is consistently trying to assert that Earth-616’s WWII was supposed to lean in the fascists’ favor.

In Nick Fury Vs. Fin Fang Foom (2025)–by J. Michael Straczynski and Elena Casagrande–Nick Fury and his Howling Commandos begin their fight for freedom on the front lines of World War II. In this telling of events, the truth is that the Allied powers were losing the war.

While the U.S. had yet to enter the war, Nick Fury and the Howling Commandos were sent into the fray of the Second Shino-Japanese War to protect China from Japanese invasion. However, when Fury and his team are sent to investigate a mysterious threat, history is forever changed.

Nick Fury Learns the Axis Powers Were Supposed to Win WWII

Nick Fury Vs. Fin Fang Foom (2025)–Written by J. Michael Straczynski; Art by Elena Casagrande; Color by Mattia Iacono; Lettering by VC’s Travis Lanham; Cover Art by Gary Frank & Alex Sinclair

Like many Americans at the time,

Nick Fury had little interest in joining the war
against the Axis powers unless the U.S. government openly declared war. After being convinced by General Sam Sawyer to join his secret operation in China, Fury begrudgingly offers his aid with the promise of decent pay. Within hours, Fury, Sam, and the future Howling Commandos touch down on Chinese soil to investigate the disappearance of international volunteer freedom fighters. A rumor has spread that a gargantuan cloud with teeth has been killing all who enter its domain.

Fury and his ally, Gabe Jones, set into the sky to find this monstrously mythical-sounding cloud. Within moments of their search, the duo are attacked by the abominable visage of a shapeshifting green dragon

known simply as Fin Fang Foom
. Nick and his ally lose the dogfight, forcing Fury to return to the ground and seek shelter. Unknowingly, Fury enters the dragon’s resting place, where he is assaulted by a vision of the likely future: The Axis powers will win the war. In this moment, Fury makes a snap decision that ultimately changes the course of the war.

One Prophetic Vision Helped Change the Course of History

Without Fin Fang Foom, The Allies Would Have Lost WWII

As I said earlier,

Nick Fury’s hesitation
to prematurely join WWII was not an uncommon feeling at the time. It wasn’t until the Pearl Harbor bombing that the United States officially entered the fight. However, Fury prematurely broke his obstinate resolve after witnessing Fin Fang Foom’s prophecy. In the span of a few short hours, Nick is forced to confront a new face of the war that he had never known. Previously unbeknownst to him and the majority of the world, there are greater powers at play in the war than men and their bullets.

It’s because of this vision that Fury decides to officially join

the Howling Commandos
and their mission to face the unrecorded and forgotten mystical and cosmic threats in motion. Without this motivation, Fury would simply have been drafted to fight on the front lines, leaving the U.S. military without one of its greatest leaders. The Howling Commandos, alongside heroes like Captain America, are directly responsible for the Allies’ victory in WWII. But without Fin Fang Foom, these fateful interactions would never have occurred, and the world would have remained destined to face global fascist rule.

Marvel Has Already Played With This WWII Idea Once Before

Nick Fury’s Vision Proves Secret Empire Could Have Become Reality

Oddly enough, this isn’t the first time Marvel has toyed with this concept. During

Marvel’s Secret Empire event
, readers are introduced to a fabricated world where the Allies shouldn’t have won WWII. In this false reality, the Allies used the powers of the Cosmic Cube to rewrite history and sway the course of the war in their favor. While this version of events was purely fictitious and designed to spur Hydra’s domination of Earth-616, I do wonder if there is any truth behind the lie. As seen in the visions Nick Fury endured, the Allies still weren’t supposed to win.

To me, it seems that Marvel is consistently trying to assert that Earth-616’s WWII was supposed to lean in the fascists’ favor. Nick Fury Vs. Fin Fang Foom reinforces that without

Nick Fury’s change of heart
, fascism would have won. The Howling Commandos wouldn’t have existed to counteract Hydra’s paranormal powers. Without the team, the Cosmic Cube would have remained in Hydra’s possession, allowing the Nazis and their allies to officially win the war. It’s hard to say for certain if there is such a thing as a fixed timeline in the Marvel Universe, but by its own admittance, without this chance encounter with Fin Fang Foom, the timeline would have followed a different course of events, and the free world would have died with it.

Nick Fury Vs. Fin Fang Foom #1 (2025) is now available from Marvel Comics.