I have a feeling there's more to this mystery than we can guess... and it might just prove deadly! 
- — Professor Haley
Challengers of the Unknown #85 is an issue of the series Challengers of the Unknown (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 1978. It was published on November 21, 1977.
Synopsis for "The Creature from the End of Time!"
In Challengers Mountain, Red and Rocky begin fighting one another for the affection of June Robbins. Deadman and Swamp Thing are present and both use their powers in an effort to get the Challs to calm down. Red won't be silenced however, and angrily quits the team.
Soon after, Professor Haley calls the group together and tells them about a strange radioactive cube that suddenly appeared in Toronto. The cube is immovable, and any who come into close proximity to it begin suffering from radiation sickness. June, Rocky, Ace, Deadman and Swamp Thing board the Challenger SST and take off to investigate. Arriving in Canada, Deadman makes contact with the cube, and it suddenly hatches, produces a giant alien monster. The Challs disembark, and Deadman possesses June Robbins and has her fire a rocket gun at the beast. The blast severely weakens it and Swamp Thing finishes it off. They bring the creature back to Challengers Mountain where Professor Haley examines it.
Haley carbon dates the monster and determines that it came from Earth's far-distant future. He recommends consulting with time traveler Rip Hunter, but Rip hasn't been seen in over a decade. They take the SST to Hunter's mountain top time laboratory, only to find that it is occupied by another giant monster. They defeat the monster, and locate Rip Hunter's time sphere Making adjustments, they attempt to use it to track the time traveler down. The group exits the time sphere in the year 12,000,000 AD. As they look around, they see Rip wearing a strange headpiece and declaring that they are now about to die.
Appearing in "The Creature from the End of Time!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Sun Lords (Behind the scenes)
- Unnamed futuristic monsters
Other Characters:
- Time Masters (Flashback only)
Locations:
Items:
- Time Sphere
- Rocket Guns
Vehicles:
Notes
- This issue is divided into three chapters:
- Part I: The Box from Beyond
- Part II: Monsters and Men
- Part III: Flight into the Future
- This issue is reprinted in Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age Vol. 2.
- Time Master Jeff Smith is erroneously referred to as Jeff Johnson in this issue.
See Also
Recommended Reading
- Deadman Recommended Reading
- Strange Adventures (Volume 1) (1967)
- Adventure Comics (Volume 1): (1978)
- Deadman (Volume 1) (1985)
- Deadman (Volume 2) (1986)
- Action Comics (Volume 1): (1988)
- Deadman: Love After Death (Volume 1) (1989)
- Deadman: Exorcism (Volume 1) (1992)
- Lobo/Deadman: The Brave and the Bald (1995)
- Batman/Deadman: Death and Glory (1996)
- Deadman: Dead Again (Volume 1) (2001)
- Deadman (Volume 3) (2002)
- Deadman (Volume 4) (2006)
- Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love (Volume 1) (2016)
- Deadman (Volume 5) (2018)