Dr Strange story by Steve Darnall & Alex Ross
Dr Strange
Nightmare
dream versions of 40s, 60s & 70s characters
It isn't much of a story, more of a framing sequence to introduce the other stories from that anthology. It was apparently written last. The story isn't even completed by Ross but by Mitch O'Connell. The gamut of stories in the anthology includes straight superhero stories, a humorous superhero story (2/3), a humorous metafictional story (4/3), a future Earth story (6/3), an alternate Earth story (4/2), a creator's autobiographical piece (3/3), a Golden Age horror tribute (3/5).
As I noticed early on, the story is inspired from DS 180-182, located in Times Square, where Nightmare supplants Eternity.
I've broken down both stories to see if it was possible to combine them, e.g. with the dream in 180 (1 - 4) or after Strange's defeat in 181.
Marvel 1-6 breakdown
page 1 Nightmare
2-3 landscape of dreaming heads
4 NY Times Square
5 Dr Strange astral form tied to a tree
6 idem
7 Nightmare growing in size
8 getting taller than buildings
9 Ego Galactus Celestials (Arishem, Nezarr, Gammenon) Surtur
10 idem + sleeping super heroes (Mr Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Thing, Hawkeye, Iron Man, Black Widow) + shard of Asgardians
11 shards Spider-Ham, Ms Marvel, etc Eternity Master Order Lord Chaos Living Tribunal Death
12 Nightmare dwarfing the entities (Eternity Master Order Lord Chaos Living Tribunal Death)
13 Nightmare dwarfing the Earth
14 Nightmare dwarfing galaxy
15 Strange freeing himself
16-17 conjuring dream heroes
18-19 idem Nightmare reduced to human size
20 End on a new day dawning
DS 180
1-4 dreaming of Eternity turning into Nightmare
5-9 going out with Clea in the snow
10-20 Times Square Nightmare
DS 181
1-6 Strange and Nightmare
7-13 Strange returns home and enters Dream Dimension
14-20 facing demons there, defeated
DS 182
1-4 Wong & Clea observing
5-6 Nightmare holding planets
7-15 Juggernaut facing Nightmare
16 Strange freeing himself
17 Nightmare and Juggernaut turn against him
18 Eternity freed
19 Nightmare and Juggernaut banished by Eternity
20 Strange returned to Earth
DS 13
1-4 Earth destroyed
5-9 in Dream Dimension, finds Eternity
10 Eternity awakens
11-12
13 refusing to restore Earth
14 Ancient One subduing Eternity
15
16 recreates Earth
17
In spite of the similarities, they cannot be combined. Also, the presence of a She-Hulk dream means we have to reach 1979-1980. The Human Torch is not with his teammates. In FF 204 he does not accompany them on their space travel. The grouping of Black Widow and Hawkeye with Iron Man points to them being Avengers. We have a small window just before A 181, between Dr Strange 37 & 38.
ARISHEM
E 12
MARVEL 3
MARVEL 4
T 284
BLACK WIDOW/NATASHA ROMANOFF
BW 1-FB
MARVEL 4
A 181
M/TU 85 (10:4)-FB
DEATH
DP/DEATH '98-FB
MARVEL 4
MARVEL 5
M/GN 1
DOCTOR STRANGE/STEPHEN STRANGE
ALIAS 26-FB-BTS
MARVEL 1
MARVEL 2
MARVEL 3
MARVEL 4
MARVEL 5
MARVEL 6
DS2 38
EGO
THANOS:AGUTL 4-FB
MARVEL 3
MARVEL 4
FF 234
ETERNITY
A 177
MARVEL 4
MARVEL 5
DEF 92
GALACTUS
GOTG@ 1/2
MARVEL 3
MARVEL 4
FF 210
GAMMENON
E 18
MARVEL 3
MARVEL 4
IH2 243
HAWKEYE/CLINT BARTON
A3 23-FB
MARVEL 4
A 181
INVISIBLE GIRL/SUE STORM RICHARDS
M/TU 88
MARVEL 4
FF 204
IRON MAN/ANTHONY STARK
CHAOS:DA 3 (22:2)-FB-FB
MARVEL 4
A 181
LIVING TRIBUNAL
ST 163/2
MARVEL 4
MARVEL 5
WI? 32
LORD CHAOS
A:KS
MARVEL 4
MARVEL 5
T@ 9
MASTER ORDER
A:KS
MARVEL 4
MARVEL 5
T@ 9
MISTER FANTASTIC/REED RICHARDS
M/TU@ 2
MARVEL 4
FF 204
NEZARR
E 11
MARVEL 3
MARVEL 4
T 284
NIGHTMARE
DS2 34
MARVEL 1
MARVEL 2
MARVEL 3
MARVEL 4
MARVEL 5
MARVEL 6
MICRO 29
SURTUR
T 177
MARVEL 3
MARVEL 4
T 337
THING II/BENJAMIN GRIMM
M/TIO@ 4
MARVEL 4
FF 204
2nd story
"The One-Eyed Gambit" by Greg Smallwood
Nick Fury
POTUS Joseph K. Hardy
Val de Fontaine
Dum Dum Dugan
Baron Strucker
MODOK
Arcade bts
Howard the Duck (from 1974 on Earth 616)
Doop
The Orb (from 1973)
Arnim Zola
Hydra agents
a Dreadnought
Joseph K. Hardy LMD
Secret Service agents
ST 150-158, the issues featuring his return and death do not provide a possibility for a Strucker capture. After his resurrection, he's extremely dangerous as he can cause mass extermination by releasing the death spore virus. Not only that Strucker is disfigured by the virus but he would hardly be let close to the US President.
The only Strucker ever captured by the US is the one from CA 130-132. He was revealed as a robot in CA 247. (The fact the robot was equipped with a Satan's Claw would point to it being a Hydra LMD rather than a creation of Machinesmith.) So this story would occur in the 1970s.
Arcade, Orb, Zola first appear in the 1970s but each had a career before we first saw them.
The constraining chronology is Howard the Duck. He first appears on Earth 616 in 1974. But he doesn't have the money to go to Macau, except maybe during his presidential campaign in HTD 8.
I have added the full 1970s chronology behind spoilers (not because there are spoilers, merely to shorten the visible listings) for these characters in case Howard the Duck were ruled out.
ARCADE
AARENA 7 (8:5)-FB
X 124 (2:6 - 3:3)-FB
**MARVEL 6/2-BTS add here
{M/TU 65} Jan 78
M/TU 66
X 122 (1 - 16)
X 124 (3:5)-FB
X 122 (17)
X 123
X 124
CX 30/2
M/TU 89
BARON STRUCKER ROBOT change to BARON STRUCKER LMD
CA 130
CA 132-FB
CA 131
CA 132 Dec 1970
**MARVEL 6/2 add here
CA 247 Jul 80
CA 248
BARON STRUCKER LMD --> LMD II
CA 273
CA 274
BARON STRUCKER LMD II --> LMD III
X&AF2 1
X&AF2 2
CA:HH 4
DE FONTAINE, LA CONTESSA VALENTINA ALLEGRO
Spoiler:
M/SPT 31 Dec 76
**MARVEL 6/2 add here
X 98 Apr 76
M/TIO 26 Apr 77
Spoiler:
I♥M/:MMH /2 move to here
**MARVEL 6/2 add here
DPSECSECWARS 1/2
XSTATIX 10-FB
I♥M/:MMH /2 move from here
DUGAN, TIMOTHY ALOYSIUS CADWALLADER "DUM DUM"
Spoiler:
**MARVEL 6/2 add here
M/TIO 26
Spoiler:
M/TU 51
Q 1 (1 - 23:2)
IH2 199
**MARVEL 6/2 add here
DEF 51-FB
HOWARD THE DUCK
HTD 8 (1 - 11) Presidential Campaign Jan 77
**MARVEL 6/2 add here
HTD 8 (12 - 18)
MODOK/GEORGE TARLETON
Spoiler:
**MARVEL 6/2 add here
MSM 5 (May 77)
IM@ 4
MSM 7
MSM 9
MSM 10
M/TU 104
M/TIO 81
ORB/DRAKE SHANNON
M/TU 15-FB
M/TU 15 Nov 73
GR2 14 Oct 75
GR2 15 Dec 75
**MARVEL 6/2 add here
GR2 28 Feb 78
GR2 54
GR2 63
ZOLA, ARNIM
CA7 3-FB
XF@ 3/3
CA&BUCKY 622
CA 209-FB
SVTU 17-FB
INVN 2-FB
C&DP 45
F 1-FB
**MARVEL 6/2 add here
SVTU 16-FB
{CA 208} Apr 77
CA 209
CA 210
CA 211
CA 212
SVTU 17
A@ 13
3rd story
"The Silver Glint of Space Reflections Gone" by Lee Bermejo (alternate future story)
Silver Surfer
Android Human Torch
Galactus