After the execution of Marcus Wright in 2003, events are set in motion.

 

Read the complete story summary at the Terminator Files forum

 

Notes from the Terminator chronology

 

This story takes place during the future war in 2029 in the Salvation timeline.

 

Didja Know?

 

The Final Battle was a 12-issue Terminator mini-series published by Dark Horse Comics in 2013-2014, set 11 years after the events of Salvation.

 

The Final Battle was written by J. Michael Strazynski, best known as the creator of the TV series Babylon 5. 

 

The covers of the 12 issues of the mini-series form one interlocking image when pieced together (though the final image is imperfect when the assembled issues are pieced together due to cropping variations that occurred when the individual issues were printed).

 

Didja Notice?

 

The inside front cover of this issue quickly recaps the events of Salvation and then states that now, in 2029, John Connor is leader of the Resistance, preparing to crush the machines.

 

The story opens in 2003 with scenes in Houston and Dallas.

 

2003: On page 1, panel 2, the semi truck appears to have a license plate of OU812. This was also the title of rock band Van Halen's 1988 album.

 

2003: If the lyrics on page 2 are from a real song, I haven't been able to find it.

 

2003: On page 6, the resistance protector (Simon) uses a desktop computer at the Tyrone Real Estate offices to perform a search for Thomas Parnell on Yoogle. Here, "Yoogle" is a parody name of the internet search engine Google, though "Yoogle" is also a slang term meaning "to search yourself on the internet".

 

2003: The coffee mug sitting on the desk on page 6, panel 6, is similar to several "coffee as prescription medicine" mugs available on the market.

 

2003: The Houston police cruiser seen on page 7 looks similar to the actual vehicles and logo currently used by Houston PD.

 

2029: The assembly of Resistance fighters for the final strike against Skynet takes place in Colorado. This is where Skynet was based according to the novelization of Judgment Day.

 

2029: On page 9, John explains that Skynet doesn't know that its attempts to kill him will fail because it doesn't have a continuity of memory from before it became aware, it has only rumors of time travel events at best. But we, as readers of various Terminator stories in numerous alternate timelines know that, in some of them, Skynet has sent agents back in time to inform its own younger self of events in the future and provide a jump-start in knowledge.

 

2029: This issue introduces a T-Hybrid of Dr. Kogan, who appeared at the beginning of Salvation.

 

2003:  The TV station call sign showing on the news update about escaped convict Thomas Parnell on page 17 is WFAA, an actual ABC affiliate TV station in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

 

2003:  The can sitting on the shelf in the breakfast nook shows a partial logo that may be 7-Up.

 

2003:  If the song playing on the elevator on page 20 is a real one, I haven't been able to find it. The lyrics are pretty generic.

 

Unanswered Questions

 

Simon's last name is never revealed throughout the mini-series. Might he be Simon Taylor, one of the TX's targets in Rise of the Machines? Taylor's age at the time of Rise of the Machines is not stated, nor is he seen, so he could be quite young and therefore still be the young man we see here. (Though a General Taylor, no first name given, is seen briefly before his death in "The Final Battle" Part 6).

 

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