tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26720240081873009052024-03-16T23:37:19.392-05:00The Original Marvel UniverseExploring the World Behind the Comics, 1961-1991Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.comBlogger144125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-46582282732064462492024-01-12T10:13:00.003-06:002024-01-12T18:17:15.641-06:00OMU History: Avengers 1967The Sixth Annual Avengers Christmas Charity Benefit, December 1967.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmT_XpN1A_CQBo8NHREaxCJ0V5ImdHHSe6_H-jy4fntZhuTs4wrgmdkv9k-9j72lMQ8tMO2zRWrbWnj719k3MfJocPbdHGkSHcKpqvWAj8E6UvUZoVH6FmkHUMtsQpqxypCaRHd7pA21XDND-5G7twvsyLPysboarwTPeyzSI34B9Lqa8bXANAB7zHW6E/s1600/Avengers-1967.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="Hawkeye, Iron Man, Moondragon, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Vision, and the Grand Vizier of Asgard standing in front of an Avengers Mansion fireplace next to a Christmas tree." border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmT_XpN1A_CQBo8NHREaxCJ0V5ImdHHSe6_H-jy4fntZhuTs4wrgmdkv9k-9j72lMQ8tMO2zRWrbWnj719k3MfJocPbdHGkSHcKpqvWAj8E6UvUZoVH6FmkHUMtsQpqxypCaRHd7pA21XDND-5G7twvsyLPysboarwTPeyzSI34B9Lqa8bXANAB7zHW6E/s1600/Avengers-1967.jpg"/></a></div>
<span style="padding-left: 20px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>L to R:</b> Hawkeye, Iron Man, Moondragon, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Grand Vizier of Asgard</span></span>
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<br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-2913938804039582812023-12-07T12:12:00.136-06:002023-12-12T16:40:51.542-06:00OMU: Spider-Man -- Year Six<b>Spider-Man</b> continues to recover from the sudden death of his girlfriend Gwen Stacy over the next twelve months of his life. He slowly comes to see Mary Jane Watson less as a friend offering comfort in his time of grief and more as a potential lover in her own right. In order to stave off the feelings of loneliness that seem inherent in his double life as a college student and a superhero, Peter Parker makes an effort to build friendships with fellow Midtown High alumni Flash Thompson and Liz Allan, new neighbor Glory Grant, and his colleagues at the <i>Daily Bugle</i>. Principal creators Gerry Conway and Ross Andru (with some help from Roy Thomas, Len Wein, and Jim Mooney) try to keep things fresh by maintaining a balance between familiar villains and new threats, even introducing legacy versions of classic foes Mysterio and the Green Goblin. All this puts Spider-Man on a firm footing going forward.
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<b>Note:</b> The following timeline depicts the <b>Original Marvel Universe</b> (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2004/12/the-original-marvel-universe.html">previous posts</a> for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
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Continuing on with... <b>The True History of the Amazing Spider-Man!</b>
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<b>January 1967 –</b> Spider-Man intervenes to stop a mugging one night in New York City, only to discover that the intended victim is the wizard Xandu, whom he last encountered about three and a half years ago. Xandu instantly hypnotizes the wall-crawler, and the next thing he knows, Spidey finds himself alongside Doctor Strange in a mind-bending mystical dimension. Xandu has once again empowered himself with the magical Wand of Watoomb, which enables him to quickly defeat the two heroes by turning them into living marionettes. Xandu boasts of his spell that prevents either man from using his powers against him, but Doctor Strange casts a counter-spell that enables them to use each other’s powers instead. Thus, while Spider-Man staggers their foe with bolts of eldritch energy, Doctor Strange covers Xandu in webbing and punches him in the face. Doctor Strange then transports them all back to the villain’s dilapidated lair in Manhattan, where Xandu is distraught over losing the Wand of Watoomb since he mainly wanted it to rouse his fiancée, Melinda, from a deathlike sleep he accidentally placed her in while practicing spells many years ago. Doctor Strange examines Melinda with his magic amulet and discovers she is actually dead, though Xandu’s spell has preserved her body. With this news, Xandu suffers a complete emotional breakdown and weeps over his lost love. Still hurting from the death of Gwen Stacy last year, Spider-Man is sympathetic. Doctor Strange retrieves a magic crystal that Spider-Man stole from him earlier while under Xandu’s control, and the two heroes make a discreet exit.
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Peter Parker starts his senior year at Empire State University, a full semester behind his cohort. Like Mary Jane Watson, Harry Osborn starts the second semester of his junior year. Peter and Harry are still sharing their Lexington Avenue apartment, but they are not on speaking terms and rarely see each other. Vietnam veteran Flash Thompson starts the second semester of his sophomore year. Peter and Mary Jane continue to see each other socially, and Peter is relieved that his elderly aunt, May Parker, has decided to continue staying with Mary Jane’s aunt, Anna Watson, in an apartment in Queens rather than living alone in the house where Peter grew up. Every so often, Peter forgoes web-swinging as Spider-Man to instead drive the Spider-Mobile around Manhattan or the outer boroughs to fulfill his contract with Corona Motors.
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<b>February 1967 –</b> While web-swinging through the city one night, Spider-Man investigates a break-in at the American Museum of Natural History and discovers evidence that his old foe, the Molten Man, has stolen some meteorite fragments. After changing back into Peter Parker, he runs into his old high school crush, Liz Allan, outside his apartment building. Liz is distraught, so Peter takes her to Mary Jane’s nearby apartment, where she falls asleep on the couch, overcome with exhaustion. Mary Jane remembers meeting Liz a few years ago and agrees to look after her while Peter checks in at the offices of the <i>Daily Bugle</i>. Peter intends to dig up some information on the Molten Man, but while chatting with secretary Betty Brant, he is sent by city editor Joe “Robbie” Robertson to meet up with reporter Ned Leeds at a fleabag hotel on the lower west side. When he arrives, Spider-Man finds the building has been wrecked by an explosion and Ned has been bludgeoned. Suddenly, the Molten Man attacks him, and Spider-Man quickly realizes his webbing is no match for the intense heat his foe’s body is generating. Crashing into a fire hydrant, the Molten Man creates a thick cloud of steam to cover his escape. Spider-Man rushes Ned to the nearest emergency room, where, after changing back into Peter Parker, he learns that both he and Ned are suffering from radiation poisoning from the meteor fragments. The Molten Man then invades the hospital, intent on killing Ned, but despite feeling sick, Spidey manages to drive him off. Returning to Mary Jane’s apartment, Peter is shocked to learn that the Molten Man is Liz’s stepbrother and she’s been helping take care of him since he was confined to a hospital after being captured by Spider-Man three and a half years ago. The Molten Man’s condition has been slowly degenerating, Liz reveals, and he’s escaped from the hospital to try to find a way to cure himself.
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The next day, despite fighting off waves of nausea, Peter follows some leads provided by his colleagues at the <i>Daily Bugle</i> and pieces together the Molten Man’s plans. This leads Spider-Man to the New York Hall of Science in Queens, where he catches the Molten Man trying to steal another meteorite, which confirms his suspicion that the Molten Man is trying to recreate the liquid metal alloy he originally developed with Professor Spencer Smythe. The clash does not go well for the web-slinger, and the Molten Man gets away. Undaunted, Spider-Man follows him onto a subway train, where they continue their battle until tumbling off the train as it crosses a bridge over the East River. The Molten Man is in a murderous rage since Spider-Man has repeatedly interfered with his attempts to stabilize his body chemistry. He grabs Spider-Man by the ankle, causing a severe burn, and slams him into a steel bridge support. Realizing he’s no match for the villain due to his radiation sickness, Spidey flings the bag containing all the stolen items off the bridge. Horrified, the Molten Man dives into the river after it, causing a huge burst of steam. When the Molten Man does not resurface, Spider-Man assumes he has drowned. Over the next week or so, Peter recovers from his illness and is relieved when Ned is finally released from the hospital.
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<b>March 1967 –</b> Peter is troubled when Joe Robertson tells him about a string of strange, vampire-like homicides along the Eastern Seaboard that suggests the perpetrator is heading toward New York. Based on a photo taken by an amateur shutterbug in Jersey City, New Jersey, Robertson believes the serial killer to be Michael Morbius, the Nobel-winning chemist who disappeared at sea a couple years ago. Peter knows that Morbius has in fact become something akin to a vampire but is surprised to learn he is on the loose, since the X-Men said they were going to cure him. He realizes he’ll have to try to recapture Morbius if and when the monster reaches NYC. Suddenly, J. Jonah Jameson interrupts them to congratulate Peter on being nominated for photojournalist of the year. Being the first he’s heard of it, Peter is stunned by the news. The very next night, Peter spots Morbius, the Living Vampire running across the ESU campus alongside the Man-Wolf. He quickly changes into Spider-Man and goes after them, wondering how the Man-Wolf retrieved his moonstone pendant from the bottom of the Hudson River. Considering the werewolf to be the greater threat, Spider-Man goes after him first and manages to trap him in a web hastily spun in a wooded glade. Acting on a hunch, Spidey then swings over to the lab of Professor Harold Ward, the head of hematological research, who is developing an experimental blood-transfusion device. When Morbius doesn’t show up, Spider-Man goes to check on the Man-Wolf and finds he’s been cut free of the webbing. Realizing Morbius wants him chasing the Man-Wolf all over the city, Spider-Man makes the tough call to return to Professor Ward’s laboratory instead. There, he and Ward assemble a mockup of the blood-transfusion device in order to trick the vampire. Sure enough, Morbius arrives about an hour later and attacks Ward. Spider-Man fights with him, making sure that the mockup is completely destroyed. In despair, Morbius dives out the window and disappears into the darkness. Unable to locate his vampiric foe, Spidey heads over to J. Jonah Jameson’s apartment and says he has reason to believe that astronaut John Jameson has become the Man-Wolf again. The cantankerous publisher angrily insists that his son John has been with him all evening. Confused, Spider-Man offers both an apology and a warning, then spends the rest of the night on a fruitless search for the werewolf. He starts to wonder if someone other than John Jameson could have fished the moonstone pendant out of the river and become another Man-Wolf. In the days to follow, Spider-Man can find no sign of either of his monstrous foes. The following week, Peter learns from Robertson that he didn’t win the photojournalist-of-the-year award. Though disappointed, Peter tries to keep a sense of perspective about it.
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<b>April 1967 –</b> Spider-Man teams up with Hawkeye to investigate a gang of robotic thieves that stole a truckload of electronic components and took it to an estate up in Westchester County. The wall-crawler realizes that Hawkeye has recruited him so as to not have to ask his former teammates in the Avengers for help. Shortly after arriving at the estate, the two superheroes are captured, whereupon they learn that the robots serve the “living computer” known as Quasimodo. The artificial intelligence has devised a mad plan to take control of humanity by linking together all the world’s computers, thus creating a sort of worldwide web of electronic networks. Knowing that such a thing could wreck civilization, Spider-Man and Hawkeye break free and short-circuit the entire complex. The robots are destroyed, and Quasimodo is left completely inert, his mind apparently disintegrated by feedback. After shutting off the main power, Spider-Man and Hawkeye depart, dismissing Quasimodo as a machine with delusions of grandeur.
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<b>May 1967 –</b> While on his way to visit Aunt May, Spider-Man stops to investigate a burglary at Faversham’s, a jewelry store at E. 47th Street and Park Avenue. In the shadows, the burglar attacks Spidey and effortlessly shrugs off his webbing before escaping out a window. Spider-Man follows, only to slip on a large sheet of ice covering the ground despite the air temperature being above 60° F. Stymied, Spider-Man continues on to Anna Watson’s apartment. After changing into Peter Parker, he finds his family physician, Dr. Bromwell, is making a house call. Gravely, Bromwell informs Peter that Aunt May has contracted a new strain of the flu virus that is highly resistant to treatment. Given her frail constitution, Aunt May’s prognosis is poor. Horrified, Peter insists there must be something they can do. Bromwell notes ruefully that a new medication is being brought into the country by its creator, a Dr. A.J. Maxfield, but will likely arrive too late to save Aunt May since Maxfield refuses to fly and is crossing the Atlantic on an ocean liner, the S.S. <i>Wendell</i>. Desperately, Peter changes back into Spider-Man and swings over to the Baxter Building to borrow an aircraft from the Fantastic Four. He finds the Human Torch at home, who initially assumes the Spider-Mobile needs maintenance and acts like a jerk. After Spider-Man yells at him, the Torch agrees to help and escorts him to the team’s vehicle hangar. Grateful, the web-slinger tells the Torch about his strange encounter at the jewelry store and suggests he check it out. Within minutes, Spider-Man launches into the sky aboard a brand-new compact, high-speed aircraft and rockets out over the ocean.
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Reaching the S.S. <i>Wendell</i> within fifteen minutes, Spider-Man leaves the aircraft in hover mode, concealed within an artificial cloud, and boards the ocean liner. After changing into Peter Parker, he accidentally bumps into some kind of European aristocrat wearing a black opera cape, whom he can barely see in the shadows. Peter apologizes and receives a curt reply in a thick accent. Minutes later, Peter discovers that a costume ball is in progress. Hearing a woman scream, he rushes over to investigate and finds her passed out on the deck with two small puncture wounds on her neck. Worried that Morbius may have struck again, Peter takes the woman to see the ship’s doctor. He is confronted by the captain, who suspects he may be a stowaway, but Peter is evasive. A good-looking couple enters the cabin—a man dressed as a Renaissance minstrel and a woman in a “sexy Viking” costume—one of whom is apparently Dr. Maxfield. However, they are accosted by Maggia gangsters who knock out the woman and kidnap the man while holding Peter and the captain at gunpoint. Peter then manages to slip away, changes back into Spider-Man, and captures the gangsters. The kidnapped man flees the scene, so Spider-Man starts searching the ship for him, assuming him to be A.J. Maxfield. Several minutes later, Spider-Man saves the man when he falls overboard and then knocks out one of the gangsters who’s gone insane and is raving about monsters. The man in the Italianate costume thanks Spider-Man for saving his life, whereupon the hero requests he turn over his new flu medicine. However, the man reveals that he is the ship’s doctor; the woman in the “sexy Viking” costume is Dr. Maxfield. Quickly, Spider-Man explains to Maxfield that an elderly woman on the mainland will likely die without the new medication. Ashamed that her aerophobia could lead to the death of a patient, Maxfield makes immediate preparations to fly the rest of the way to New York with the wall-crawler. About fifteen minutes later, Spider-Man drops Maxfield off at Anna Watson’s apartment, where Dr. Bromwell is waiting. He then takes the Fantastic Four’s aircraft back to the Baxter Building before returning as Peter Parker. To everyone’s great relief, Aunt May responds well to the treatment and makes a speedy recovery.
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Peter joins Mary Jane, Flash, and Liz on a boat tour up the Hudson River only to have it immediately hijacked by a trio of Latin American terrorists. Their leader, dressed in a red-and-black costume, calls himself the Tarantula. Several members of the crew attack the terrorists, giving Peter the chance to change into Spider-Man amidst the chaos. However, while saving a crewmember who’s been knocked overboard, Spidey runs out of web-fluid and finds himself stranded on the George Washington Bridge as the boat continues heading upriver with his friends still in danger. Wishing he had the Spider-Mobile handy, Spider-Man races back to his apartment to replace his empty web-fluid cartridges. He then manages to return to the hijacked boat by hitching a ride on a police helicopter. While fighting with the Tarantula, Spidey discovers that the large spikes on the villain’s boots are coated with a debilitating poison. Things go from bad to worse when the Punisher suddenly turns up and assumes Spider-Man is in league with the hijackers. Taking advantage of the distraction, the Tarantula and his henchmen escape aboard their own helicopter with the loot they’ve stolen from the passengers. Realizing he was wrong about Spider-Man, the Punisher is furious and arranges to meet the web-slinger at midnight at the Cloisters museum in Fort Tryon Park in Washington Heights. He then dives into the river and swims away. As the passengers press in around him, Spider-Man also leaps into the water, circles around to the other side of the boat, climbs aboard, changes back into Peter Parker, jumps overboard again, and starts yelling for help. As crewmen haul him back on board, Peter hopes his elaborate ruse will safeguard his secret identity, though Flash seems especially skeptical of his story. The boat returns immediately to port, where Peter checks in with the <i>Daily Bugle</i> before heading home to take a much-needed shower. While waiting for his late-night meeting with the Punisher, Peter does some laundry and washes his costume.
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At midnight, Spider-Man rendezvouses with the Punisher at the museum, where the vigilante has set up a temporary base of operations in a disused storage room. The Punisher informs Spider-Man that the Tarantula, whose real name is Anton Miguel Rodriquez, started out as a revolutionary in the South American nation of Delvadia until he switched sides to become a state-sanctioned fascist “superhero.” His lawless behavior eventually forced Rodriquez to flee the country, whereupon he entered the United States illegally and made contacts in the criminal underworld. Less than a month ago, Rodriquez hatched his plan to hold the tour boat for ransom. The Punisher has since discovered the Tarantula’s hideout near the northwest corner of Central Park and recruits the web-slinger to help bring him to justice. Arriving at the dilapidated building, Spider-Man is shocked when the Punisher storms inside and shoots up the place with a submachine gun, but he is kept too busy to intervene when the Tarantula flees into the park across the street. The ensuing fight between Spider-Man and the Tarantula carries them through the West 110th Street Playground to the banks of Harlem Meer, where the Tarantula is defeated. The Punisher then turns up with the two henchmen from the hijacking, who are unconscious. Relieved that the Punisher doesn’t seem to have killed anyone, Spider-Man lets him go. After webbing up the three crooks, the wall-crawler phones in a tip to the police and heads for home.
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Peter finishes up the spring semester but is frustrated when he finds he has failed a couple of his classes, including advanced trigonometry. He knows his activities as Spider-Man are undermining his academic career but feels he has no choice but to continue trying to balance the two. He is depressed when most of the students who entered college with him graduate and move on with their lives. To cheer Peter up, Mary Jane, Flash, and Liz throw a party to celebrate his 22nd birthday.
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<b>June 1967 –</b> Peter is saddened to learn that Captain America has retired, having idolized the star-spangled hero since he was a young boy. Soon after, when an alley fight with four muggers goes awry, Spider-Man is rescued by Brother Voodoo, a mysterious superhero based in New Orleans who has come north in pursuit of the leader of a murderous cult. They rush the muggers’ intended victim, an aspiring actress, to the hospital, as she was badly wounded during the fracas. There, she tells them about auditioning for an off-Broadway play about voodoo just before being attacked, so the two heroes head over to the theater to investigate. Brother Voodoo enters through the front door while Spider-Man looks for a skylight. By the time the web-slinger finds his way into the building, Brother Voodoo is already brawling with the cultists and their leader, a man called Moondog. Suddenly, the two heroes are overwhelmed by searing pain with no apparent cause, and when they regain their senses, they find themselves about to be burned at the stake on the theater stage. As Moondog sets the kindling on fire, Spider-Man and Brother Voodoo break free and renew their attack. Seeing the tide has turned, Moondog climbs up to a catwalk, intending to escape to the rooftops, but Brother Voodoo stops him. To Spider-Man’s horror, Brother Voodoo throws Moondog off the catwalk, clearly meaning to kill him. He quickly spins a web to catch the villain, hardly noticing a strange nimbus of light that briefly envelops Moondog as he falls. When he climbs out of the web, Moondog seems disoriented and claims to be an accountant named Wally Bevins. Spider-Man scoffs at this obvious ruse, but Brother Voodoo assures him that Bevins is telling the truth—Moondog is actually a “loa,” a voodoo spirit that had possessed Bevins down in New Orleans. Rather than allow itself to perish with its host, the loa fled Bevins’s body, as Brother Voodoo had hoped. Creeped out by all the voodoo stuff, Spider-Man heads home, leaving Brother Voodoo to deal with the defeated cultists.
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A robbery at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum leads Spider-Man into a street battle with a gang of men in strange uniforms brandishing shuriken and nunchaku. Despite being unfamiliar with such weapons, Spider-Man still defeats them with relative ease. He intimidates one of the men into revealing that his employer, a master criminal called “Shang-Chi,” is planning to destroy the Ravenswood Generating Station in Queens while smaller teams of henchmen, like his, stage heists around the city to keep the police busy. Suddenly, the gang members are all electrocuted by their own uniforms. Sickened by their gruesome deaths, Spider-Man realizes that this Shang-Chi must be some kind of monster. After a quick stop at the <i>Daily Bugle</i>, where he learns that a Chinese man named Shang-Chi allegedly murdered a Doctor Petrie in London a couple months ago, Spider-Man makes his way to the power station. No sooner has the wall-crawler entered the generator room than Shang-Chi attacks him, accusing Spider-Man of being a murderer. The young martial-arts expert proves to be a surprisingly formidable opponent, and they eventually figure out they’ve both been played for suckers—their fight is just another diversionary tactic engineered by the actual criminal mastermind, Shang-Chi’s father. Agreeing to team up, Shang-Chi leads Spidey to a meeting with a secret agent who informs them that Shang-Chi’s father is hatching some diabolical plan atop the Empire State Building. The two heroes race over there, where they get into a fight with a sumo wrestler in a stairwell. Once the wrestler is defeated, they make their way to the roof, where they confront a gaunt man dressed as an old-time Chinese mandarin and his numerous henchmen. More of Shang-Chi’s associates arrive by helicopter, leading to a fierce gun battle. One of the commandos, a brawny, balding Englishman, confirms to Spider-Man that the man in the mandarin’s robes is Shang-Chi’s father, but he has slipped away in the confusion. Hoping to beat the express elevator to street level, Spider-Man and Shang-Chi leap off the building and land in a hastily spun net of webbing. However, when the elevator doors open in the lobby, the car is mysteriously empty. An elderly English gentleman with a bit of a limp arrives on the scene and, to Spider-Man’s surprise, identifies Shang-Chi’s father as Dr. Fu Manchu, whom the web-slinger had always thought was merely a fictional character. Hearing police sirens approaching, Spider-Man shakes hands with Shang-Chi and makes a hasty exit.
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Spider-Man stops an apparent cat-burglar dressed as a cat from getting away with his loot by webbing up the large satchel he is carrying. Suddenly, though, Daredevil appears out of nowhere and kicks Spider-Man in the head while loudly announcing some bitter rivalry between them. Confused, Spider-Man defends himself forcefully, allowing the cat-burglar to escape. Daredevil then stops the fight, explaining that he was following the crook, Cat-Man, back to the hideout of his gang, which is known as the Unholy Three. The satchel contains the ransom money for a kidnapped girl named Gail Callan, daughter of a wealthy industrialist. Regretting his interference, Spidey retrieves the satchel and discovers a clump of dirt stuck to it. Daredevil somehow determines that the dirt came from Coney Island and invites the wall-crawler to join him in rescuing Gail. The two superheroes then make their way to Steeplechase Park, an amusement park that closed down a few years ago, where they find Cat-Man, Bird-Man, and Ape-Man holding Gail prisoner inside an old bait shack on a small pier. While Daredevil keeps the Unholy Three busy, Spider-Man sneaks through a back window and rescues Gail. However, Bird-Man comes after him, intent on retrieving his victim. Spidey easily evades Bird-Man’s clumsy attack and tears the mechanical wings off his costume. After webbing the crook to a lamppost, Spider-Man swings over to see if Daredevil needs help, leaving Gail on a nearby rooftop. He finds that Daredevil has defeated Cat-Man, but Ape-Man grabs Gail and carries her to the top of a roller coaster, threatening to kill her unless he is allowed to escape. While Daredevil keeps Ape-Man distracted by trying to negotiate with him, Spidey sends the roller coaster cars crashing into the villain from behind. Ape-Man drops the terrified Gail, but Daredevil catches her. Once Cat-Man and Ape-Man are securely webbed up next to Bird-Man, Spider-Man departs, trusting Daredevil to deal with the authorities.
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<b>July 1967 –</b> While studying his advanced trigonometry textbook, Peter hears a news bulletin on the radio saying that Spider-Man just tried to break into the Manhattan House of Detention for Men, a.k.a. “the Tombs.” Realizing an impostor is at large in the city, he heads over to the prison, where he finds J. Jonah Jameson and Ned Leeds arriving for a press conference with the warden. Suddenly, the Hulk smashes through the wall and storms into a high-security cell block, ignoring the guards’ gunfire. Peter changes into Spider-Man but is unable to prevent the Hulk from freeing one of the convicts. A couple blocks away, Spider-Man finds the Hulk and the convict apparently talking to Rick Jones. However, “Rick” is wearing a Spider-Man costume under his trenchcoat, raising the web-slinger’s suspicions. With a thin strand of webbing, Spidey yanks off the Rick Jones facemask, revealing the impostor to be his old foe the Chameleon. Enraged, Hulk grabs the Chameleon and shakes him so violently that Spider-Man feels compelled to intervene. Just then, they are surrounded by police squad cars and armed prison guards. The Chameleon pushes the convict into his car and drives off, running over a policeman. Spider-Man stops the car by spinning a large web across the street, whereupon the Chameleon jumps out and shoots at the nearest cop. The officer shoots back, hitting the Chameleon in the shoulder. The convict then lunges at the cop, only to get shot in the chest. Spider-Man watches in horror as the convict dies in the grieving Chameleon’s arms. He tries in vain to explain concepts like friendship and self-sacrifice to the bewildered Hulk. However, when they overhear a radio bulletin reporting that Doctor Strange and Nighthawk are fighting the Wrecking Crew at a Midtown South construction site, the green behemoth leaps away to help his friends. Jameson demands that the police arrest the wall-crawler, but they have their hands full, so Spider-Man webs Jameson’s mouth shut and swings away.
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Peter is baffled by a midsummer snowstorm in New York City but enjoys playing in the snow with Mary Jane. Reports of bizarre weather phenomena come in from all over, the cause remaining a mystery. Though Peter and Mary Jane frequently flirt with each other, he’s convinced their relationship is strictly platonic. Later, Peter is shocked to wake up and discover that everyone in New York City has been unconscious for two days. Reports of strange occurrences start coming in from around the globe, but then the Fantastic Four announce that it was all part of an alien invasion plot that they have foiled.
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<b>August 1967 –</b> After spending a fun Sunday together, Peter and Mary Jane head back to his apartment to play some records on the stereo. Joking about being a “female chauvinist,” Mary Jane takes his key and starts to open the door. Reacting to his spider-sense, Peter shoves Mary Jane away just as a bomb goes off inside the apartment. Despite Peter’s lightning-fast reflexes, they are both knocked out by the blast. He comes to moments later, worried that he’s suffered a concussion, and stumbles into the apartment hoping to call for an ambulance. However, the place has been completely destroyed. Hearing sirens approaching, he quickly gathers up all his Spider-Man paraphernalia, webs it into a ball, and tosses it onto the roof of the building outside his window. As police arrive on the scene, Peter and the still unconscious Mary Jane are rushed to the nearest hospital, where he is questioned about the explosion. Anna Watson soon arrives and sits with Mary Jane for about half an hour before Peter is allowed to go into the room. Feeling woozy, Peter thinks he sees Gwen Stacy’s face superimposed on Mary Jane’s for a moment, as he fears anyone who gets too close to him may be doomed. He is relieved when Mary Jane wakes up briefly, though she soon lapses into unconsciousness again. Needing to get out and do something, Peter changes into Spider-Man and goes to check the warehouse in Chelsea where Norman Osborn stored his Green Goblin gear. Finding the place coated with a thick layer of fake dust, he decides to wait around until after nightfall. A few hours later, his suspicions are confirmed when a new Green Goblin flies into the warehouse on a goblin-glider. As they fight, Spider-Man determines that it must be Harry Osborn behind the grinning mask, intent on getting revenge for the death of his father last year. Harry has obviously been training for several months, though, and wields the Green Goblin’s various weapons like an expert. Eventually gaining the upper hand, Harry is forced to abandon the fight when his suit’s power reserves are depleted. Granting his victim a temporary reprieve, the Green Goblin leaps onto his glider and crashes through a skylight, vowing to reveal Peter’s secret identity to the world before finally killing him. He then flies off, laughing maniacally, but Spider-Man realizes he’s too woozy to give chase. Instead, he heads over to the offices of the <i>Daily Bugle</i>, where Jameson, who’s been unusually irascible lately, threatens to stop buying Peter’s photos altogether. Stressed out, Peter vents his frustrations on Betty Brant, then spends the rest of the night searching in vain for the Green Goblin.
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The next evening, Peter visits the hospital again and becomes worried when he finds Flash, Liz, Jameson, and Robertson in the waiting room. He is relieved to learn that Mary Jane is doing much better, and when Aunt May arrives, they go in to visit her together. Despite suffering from tinnitus and other symptoms, Mary Jane is her usual upbeat self. She immediately switches on her bedside radio so Peter can hear a news report about the Green Goblin hijacking a truck on a New Jersey interstate. Claiming it may offer some newsworthy photos, Peter excuses himself to go check it out. On his way out, Peter gives Jameson the brush-off when the publisher tries to smooth things over from their spat yesterday. Hitching a ride on top of various passing cars, Spider-Man arrives at the scene of the hijacking about an hour later, where the New Jersey State Police are still investigating. Snooping around, the wall-crawler confirms that it was the Green Goblin who stole the truck’s cargo. He then makes his way to Norman Osborn’s old townhouse, which has sat vacant since its owner’s death, and finds the Green Goblin there. While ranting obsessively, Harry reveals that he witnessed his father’s final battle with Spider-Man, and that afterwards he quickly removed all evidence that Norman Osborn was the Green Goblin so the world wouldn’t learn of his criminal activities. Spider-Man realizes that that is why the police suspect him of Osborn’s murder—Harry essentially framed him for it. Angered, Spider-Man pounces on the Green Goblin and starts beating on him, but Harry reveals that he’s kidnapped Aunt May, Mary Jane, and Flash and imprisoned them in various sites around Manhattan. One of them is trapped with a small nuclear bomb stolen from the hijacked truck, which is set to go off in six minutes. Each victim is tagged with a spider-tracer that Harry stole from Peter’s room at some point, but, he gloats, Spider-Man will have to choose which one to rescue. If he chooses wrong, the villain cackles, the person most dear to him will die. With no time to lose, Spider-Man knocks the Green Goblin out with a haymaker, and guessing that Harry’s sense of “an eye for an eye” would mean killing Aunt May, he heads uptown. After a nerve-wracking detour to get fresh web-fluid cartridges, Spider-Man arrives at the General Grant National Memorial in Morningside Heights, smashes down the door of the mausoleum, and finds his unconscious aunt inside. Snagging the metal cylinder above her head with a web-line, Spider-Man flings it into the Hudson River. Seconds later, to his great relief, the bomb explodes harmlessly in the water.
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After making sure Aunt May is okay, Spider-Man tracks down Mary Jane somewhere in Midtown and returns her to the hospital. He then heads downtown to locate Flash and frees him as well. Back at the Osborn townhouse, Spidey has a chance to catch his breath before Harry regains consciousness. Learning that his scheme has been foiled, the Green Goblin lunges at Spider-Man and tries to choke him to death. In self-defense, Spider-Man slams Harry into a bank of computers, causing a short-circuit that nearly electrocutes his revenge-crazed foe. When the police arrive to investigate complaints about a ruckus in the abandoned townhouse, Spider-Man quickly hides the Green Goblin’s gear and then changes back into Peter Parker. While Harry is being carried out on a stretcher, he comes to and announces that Peter is Spider-Man. The police are intrigued until Harry also claims to be the Green Goblin. Believing Harry is too young to be the notorious super-villain, the police dismiss his accusation as the product of an addled mind. Harry continues raving as he is loaded into an ambulance and driven away. Downhearted, Peter tells the cops that Harry is a friend in need of psychiatric care.
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Peter and Harry are evicted from their apartment due to the extensive damage the explosion caused to the building. Knowing he couldn’t afford the rent in any case, Peter does not object. He packs up whatever items are salvageable and then starts phoning friends from college to see if anyone would be willing to put him up for a while. Since most of his cohort has already graduated, he has no luck until, surprisingly, Flash invites Peter to his apartment in Far Rockaway, a relatively isolated part of Queens south of JFK Airport. Peter takes a taxi out there, musing about how he and Flash used to be such bitter rivals in high school, and soon arrives at the unostentatious apartment building. He notes that a demolished neighborhood, where one lone ramshackle house still stands, has left Flash’s building with an unobstructed view of the Atlantic Ocean. Flash welcomes Peter to his humble abode, and they spend the next several hours talking and really getting to know each other for the first time. Peter starts to realize that he and Flash actually have quite a bit in common. Later, after Flash has fallen asleep, Peter decides to change into Spider-Man and check out the neighborhood. He quickly discovers that the lonely, dilapidated house contains a mutant who feeds on human emotions like a psychic parasite. Flash and his neighbors have been drawn toward the house in a trance, but Spider-Man pushes his way through the crowd and beats up the mutant. As a police riot squad shows up, Spider-Man changes back into Peter Parker and meets up with Flash. The mutant suffers an emotional breakdown, so the police take him into custody.
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About two weeks later, Spider-Man is caught by surprise when a powerful earthquake suddenly strikes New York City. He saves a blond woman who tumbles out a window by snagging her with a web-line before she hits the ground and is instantly reminded of Gwen’s death. Baffled by the tremors, Spider-Man swings over to ESU, changes into Peter Parker, and joins a group of students questioning a noted seismologist on the faculty. Peter learns that there were actually two focal points for the earthquake, one at the northern end of the island and another at the southern tip. Since this is impossible, Peter suspects the involvement of a super-villain. He changes back into Spider-Man and goes to recruit some help as more tremors rock the city. Unfortunately, neither the Fantastic Four nor the Avengers are at home. Making his way north, Spider-Man comes across what appears to be a robot near Inwood Hill Park using a strange device to fire energy beams into the ground. He tries to put a stop to it, only to be knocked out. When he comes to, he finds himself chained up alongside Hercules in a cavern. Two robots are nearby, also firing energy beams into the ground. Hercules breaks free of his chains and attacks them but is blasted into unconsciousness. To stall for time, Spidey asks the robots what they’re trying to accomplish and discovers they intend to steal Manhattan Island by breaking it loose from its foundations and dragging it out into the Atlantic Ocean using a nuclear submarine, after which they will hold the population for ransom. Spider-Man knows that an island can’t be towed away like an illegally parked car and would not, in any case, fit through the narrow strait between Staten Island and Brooklyn—the robots’ scheme would merely result in the destruction of the city. Having heard enough, Spider-Man breaks free and attacks the robots. With help from Hercules, the robots are quickly overcome and their mad scheme is foiled. To the heroes’ surprise, the robots turn out not to be robots at all but old men inside armored exoskeletons. The men are terrified that they will be killed for failing their mysterious employers, but even so, the heroes turn them over to the authorities. Spider-Man is annoyed when Mayor John V. Lindsay blames him for the damage the quakes caused to Washington Heights and the Financial District in Lower Manhattan. For his part, Hercules is amused by the eternal irrationality of mortals.
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The following week, Liz helps Peter find an apartment he can afford, in a somewhat run-down building at 410 Chelsea Street. They go together to look at the place and meet the building superintendent’s wife, Mamie Muggins. After a quick tour, Peter decides the price is right, signs the lease, and pays the deposit. Relieved to have his own place at last, he heads over to the offices of the <i>Daily Bugle</i> to tell Betty Brant and Joe Robertson that Mary Jane has been released from the hospital. Suddenly, a nine-foot-tall man in a bear costume calling himself the Grizzly smashes out of the elevator and starts tearing up the place. Peter ducks into a stairwell and changes into Spider-Man, but before he can confront the costumed menace, he first must save J. Jonah Jameson when the Grizzy throws him out a window. The Grizzly proves to be a very tough customer, so Spider-Man decides to tag him with a spider-tracer and let him go rather than endanger bystanders by prolonging the fight. Several hours later, Spider-Man tracks the signal from the tracer to a well-appointed townhouse near Washington Square in Greenwich Village. Confused, he changes back into Peter Parker and rings the doorbell. A moment later, he is ambushed by the Grizzly and the Jackal and knocked unconscious. Peter comes to in the lobby of the Daily Bugle Building early the next morning and soon discovers the Jackal has fastened a large metal cuff to his right forearm. A recording of the Jackal’s voice warns Peter that if he tampers with the cuff, it will explode and take his arm with it. The villain explains that the cuff contains a tracking device, by which he will follow Peter to his next photoshoot with Spider-Man.
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Later that day, Flash drives Peter from Far Rockaway to Chelsea to help him move his few belongings into his new apartment. They meet Peter’s drop-dead gorgeous new neighbor, professional model Gloria “Glory” Grant. Learning that Peter is a professional photographer, Glory invites him over for tea sometime, making Flash envious. Flash then offers to drive Peter over to ESU so they can register for classes, but Peter declines, wanting to figure out what to do about the tracking device clamped to his arm. He knows that, so long as he wears it, he can’t go into action as Spider-Man without revealing his secret identity to the Jackal. After struggling with the problem for several hours, Peter finally sneaks into the ESU chemistry building a little before midnight and makes a close examination of the cuff. Discovering a circuit board behind a small panel, he takes an acetylene torch to it, then snips off the cuff with a pair of metal shears. Following an immense wave of relief, he makes a further examination of the cuff and realizes it wasn’t booby trapped after all. Changing into Spider-Man, he drops the cuff into the river on his way over to the Daily Bugle Building. Finding Jameson working late, the web-slinger badgers the publisher into admitting he was personally responsible for ending the Grizzly’s career as a professional wrestler back in the mid-1950s, when he was known simply as Maxwell Markham. Spider-Man then returns to the townhouse off Washington Square, only to discover it’s been scrubbed of all trace of the Jackal’s activities. Following his last lead, Spidey checks out a number of gyms until he finally comes upon the Grizzy beating up former colleagues who cooperated with the state wrestling commission investigation that Jameson instigated. Wasting no time, Spider-Man shreds his foe’s bear costume and breaks apart the strength-enhancing exoskeleton the Jackal had given him, reducing the Grizzly to just a flabby, middle-aged has-been. Leaving Markham for the police, the wall-crawler departs, realizing the Jackal poses a greater threat than he previously thought.
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<b>September 1967 –</b> Peter starts the second semester of his senior year at Empire State University, but he knows he hasn’t earned enough credits to graduate and will probably need at least another year of classes. He re-takes a biochemistry course with Professor Miles Warren that he failed last year, though Professor Warren seems to be losing patience with Peter’s attitude toward his studies. Flash starts his junior year. On the advice of her doctor, Mary Jane does not register for any classes this semester, and Harry is also out on medical leave. Determined not to fail any more courses, Peter goes out as Spider-Man only infrequently and deals mostly with petty street crime.
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<b>October 1967 –</b> Spider-Man is drawn into a bizarre conflict between two extradimensional aliens, one a blue-skinned, half-naked woman named DeSinna and the other an apparently monstrous creature called Tarros. At an Art Deco office building slated for demolition, DeSinna recruits Spider-Man’s help by showing him a holographic recreation of the exploits of Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze, and his five associates on the same site in 1934. As with Fu Manchu, Spider-Man had always thought Doc Savage was merely a fictional character but is suddenly not so sure. The presentation shows DeSinna teaming up with Doc Savage to trap the ghostly Tarros in the building’s cornerstone. However, an initial skirmish with Tarros convinces Spider-Man that DeSinna is lying, so he intentionally jackhammers the cornerstone, releasing Tarros’s astral form from its decades-long imprisonment. Expressing gratitude to the web-slinger, Tarros returns to his native dimension and, moments later, draws the duplicitous DeSinna back there as well to pay for her crimes. Still wondering whether Doc Savage was ever real, Spider-Man heads for home.
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Rescuing Glory Grant from what appears to be a mugging, Spider-Man is surprised to learn the assailants are her cousin and his friends. As it turns out, the three young men were forcibly exposed to a drug that made them uncontrollably violent, administered by a man in a golden costume at a popular dance club, the Hot Spot. Glory tells the wall-crawler she’s heard rumors of a man in gold who wants to rid New York City of black people. Outraged, Spider-Man heads over to the Hot Spot to investigate. There, he runs into the Falcon, who’s been on the trail of the villain, who calls himself Midas, for weeks. While the heroes are brawling with some henchmen, Midas escapes, but they track him to the Connecticut estate of the club’s owner, liberal philanthropist Harrison J. Merriwell. Midas tries to trap the heroes in a walk-in freezer, but they break free and expose him as Harrison Merriwell’s ne’er-do-well brother Malcolm. Once Malcolm Merriwell is in police custody, Spider-Man and the Falcon return to New York, satisfied that the racist gangster will no longer be a menace to society.
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Late one night, Spider-Man is driving around in the Spider-Mobile when several police cars start chasing him. He drives the dune buggy off a Hudson River pier, which he could have sworn was an alley. Confused, Spider-Man heads home to bed when the police decide to let the Harbor Patrol deal with the situation in the morning. After a busy day at school, he returns to the pier to figure out a way to salvage the Spider-Mobile so as to not lose his income from Corona Motors. Suddenly, the web-slinger is ambushed by Mysterio, who keeps him disoriented with a hallucinogenic gas while delivering kicks and punches. Believing he’s being attacked by nearly a dozen of his old foes simultaneously, Spider-Man quickly realizes he’s furiously pummeling a brick wall. Half out of his mind, he tries to tackle the unusually taciturn Mysterio, only to pass right through the villain and bang his head on a fire escape. When he finally regains his senses, Spider-Man finds his gloves shredded, his web-shooters damaged, and his hands bleeding, so he changes back into Peter Parker and gets his wounds treated at a nearby clinic. He then makes his way over to the offices of the <i>Daily Bugle</i>, where Betty and Ned are working late. Seeing his bandaged hands, they ask him what happened, but when Peter claims to have been caught up in a brawl between Spider-Man and Mysterio, Ned informs him that Mysterio died in prison nearly a year ago. Shocked by this revelation, Peter begins to question his own sanity.
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The next day, Spidey locates the wreck of the Spider-Mobile at the bottom of the river, but when he climbs back onto the pier, he is again attacked by Mysterio. The fight does not go well due to the wall-crawler’s injured hands, and after taunting the hero for a few minutes, Mysterio vanishes into thin air. Baffled, Spider-Man returns home and changes back into Peter Parker. While Peter’s on the phone with Aunt May, Mary Jane comes over to hang out, but things take a dark turn when a ghostly Kingpin briefly menaces them. Not having seen the apparition, Mary Jane is disturbed by Peter’s erratic behavior. The two friends then pay a visit to the Daily Bugle Building, where Peter thinks he sees Gwen Stacy leaving the lobby. He chases after her, only to lose her in the crowded street outside. Shaken, Peter is forced to wonder if Mysterio has discovered his secret identity. However, while changing into Spider-Man, he discovers a tiny image projector attached to his chest and realizes Mysterio must have planted it there during their earlier fight. Tracking the signals being received by the projector, Spider-Man finds Mysterio’s hideout and catches his foe by surprise. Mysterio is quickly defeated and revealed to be an impostor, a down-on-his-luck stuntman and ex-con named Danny Berkhart who claims to have “inherited” the Mysterio identity when the original died. Spider-Man webs the super-villain wannabe to the floor and mocks him as he departs. Convinced that Berkhart does not know his true identity, Peter realizes that his sighting of Gwen remains unexplained.
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<b>November 1967 –</b> Peter focuses almost exclusively on his schoolwork all month and rarely goes out as Spider-Man. Despite his hands healing quickly, he continues to bandage them so as not to arouse his friends’ suspicions. Aunt May and Anna Watson host a modest Thanksgiving dinner with Peter and Mary Jane. Though Peter finds Mary Jane attractive and fun to hang around with, he’s not sure any woman can replace Gwen in his heart.
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<b>December 1967 –</b> For about 18 hours, Spider-Man finds himself trapped within a force-field bubble. Try as he might, he is unable to escape. Finally, the force field vanishes as mysteriously as it appeared. He then learns that while he was trapped, Loki led an invasion force of Asgardian warriors against Washington, D.C., only to be repelled by Thor and the U.S. Army.
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While Spider-Man is foiling a kidnapping in Long Island City, one of the crooks pulls a gun and is immediately shot dead by an unseen sniper. When the police arrive on the scene, the web-slinger goes after the sniper and soon finds a TV-repair van filled with weapons. He slips inside as the driver approaches. It is, as he suspected, the Punisher. Upon arriving at his hideout inside an abandoned power station on the Upper East Side, the Punisher discovers his passenger and complains that Spider-Man’s interference ruined his plan to follow the kidnappers back to their employer. He explains that the kidnap victims are taken to a camp somewhere in South America, where they are made test subjects for deadly chemical weapons. After arguing about tactics, the Punisher convinces Spider-Man to join him on a mission to the company he suspects is behind the kidnappings—the Deterrence Research Corporation, led by a man named Moses Magnum. Spider-Man agrees to allow himself to be captured so the Punisher can follow him to the South American camp using a tracking device. The Punisher also provides some facial prosthetics to protect Spider-Man’s identity in the event he is unmasked. Their plan goes off without a hitch until they get into a shooting war with the guards at the camp. As the Punisher holds off the guards, Spider-Man finds Moses Magnum in his fortified command center and fights with him. Magnum grabs a cannister of his flesh-dissolving gas and threatens to release it, claiming to be willing to sacrifice himself to kill his enemies. However, the Punisher enters and, ignoring the wall-crawler’s hasty warning, shoots a hole in the cannister. Spider-Man launches himself across the room, knocks the Punisher into the corridor, and slams the command center’s vault-like door behind him, trapping Magnum inside with the gas. After calling in the local authorities and the United Nations to liberate the camp, the Punisher departs, leaving Spider-Man to be returned home with the other kidnap victims. Back in New York a few days later, Spider-Man storms into the Punisher’s hideout, but of course the vigilante has already moved his operations elsewhere.
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Spider-Man is on his way to the Daily Bugle Building when he thinks he sees Gwen entering a subway station some distance away. Unable to get a good look at her, he wonders if he’s going crazy now that he can’t blame it on Mysterio’s illusions. He notes that he’s been thinking about Gwen a lot lately and wonders if the guilt he still feels is making him delusional. Shaking it off, he sneaks into J. Jonah Jameson’s office and snoops around, suspecting his long-time nemesis of being involved in Mysterio’s scheme. Not finding anything, he changes into Peter Parker and chats with Betty Brant, who informs him that Jameson left suddenly for Europe several weeks ago. Joe Robertson then takes Peter out to lunch and shows him a suspicious telegram he received from Jameson, asking him to bring a million dollars in negotiable bonds to Paris immediately. Concerned, Peter agrees to accompany Robertson to France. After spending the afternoon at ESU, Peter takes a taxi to John F. Kennedy International Airport, accompanied by Mary Jane, and meets up with Robertson at the departure gate. When the boarding call comes, Peter and Mary Jane kiss goodbye with a passion that surprises them both. Flushed with love, they say farewell, then the two newspapermen board the plane. As the Boeing 747 takes off into the snowy sky, Peter wonders what the heck just happened.
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After a layover in London, the aircraft lands in Paris about 17 hours after leaving New York. Peter and Robertson check into their hotel on the Boulevard Saint-Germain and have dinner in the hotel restaurant. Back in their room afterwards, they receive a phone call. After a brief conversation in French, Robertson informs Peter that Jameson has been kidnapped, as they feared, and the bonds are his ransom. Robertson then heads out to meet with the kidnappers to receive further instructions. As soon as he’s gone, Peter changes into Spider-Man and follows him. After being driven around the city for an hour, Robertson finally meets with three costumed henchmen under a bridge on the Left Bank of the River Seine near the Eiffel Tower. When Robertson is knocked out, Spider-Man swings down and beats up the henchmen, only to be attacked by their boss, a French super-villain calling himself the Cyclone. Somehow, the Cyclone generates a tornado-like vortex around himself, with which he damages a nearby building, burying the web-slinger beneath half a ton of rubble. When he digs himself out of the debris, Spider-Man finds that Robertson has been kidnapped as well. Returning to the hotel, Peter is soon roughed up by two of the Cyclone’s henchmen and told to bring the ransom to the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris tomorrow evening.
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Rising at dawn, Peter decides to set a trap for the Cyclone. Finding a hardware store with a clerk who speaks English, he buys a large industrial fan, a tarp large enough to cover it, and a trolly on which to transport it, as well as a remote-control tape recorder and a blank cassette. He then heads to the Île de la Cité in the Seine, where the cathedral is located, and makes his preparations. Changing into Spider-Man, he spends the rest of the day web-swinging around Paris and seeing the sights. At dusk, he returns to the cathedral and finds the Cyclone there with Jameson and Robertson and a couple of henchmen. The Cyclone is telling his bound hostages about his origins as a NATO engineer who designed exotic weaponry but couldn’t compete with American firms like Stark Industries. Spidey quickly takes out the henchmen and attacks the Cyclone, leading him towards the hidden fan. At the last second, the wall-crawler activates the fan, creating a vortex in opposition to the Cyclone’s own, sending the villain spinning out of control into a pillar. With the Cyclone and his men knocked unconscious, Spider-Man frees Jameson and Robertson, using the remote-control tape recorder to convince them that Peter Parker is in an upper level of the church taking photos. After retrieving his automatic camera, Peter meets Jameson and Robertson outside the cathedral with the ransom, and once the police have been summoned, they all head to the airport to catch the next plane home.
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Arriving in New York early in the morning, Peter wonders why Mary Jane has not met them at the airport as planned. He takes a taxi with Jameson and Robertson into Manhattan, and they drop him off at his apartment in Chelsea, wondering why Anna Watson is waiting outside in the cold. Worried, Peter gets out of the cab, whereupon Mrs. Watson stammers out something about Aunt May being hospitalized. She directs Peter upstairs to his apartment. Dropping his bags, he charges up the stairs, his heart pounding. Bursting through his door, Peter is shocked to see Gwen Stacy standing by the window. His mind reeling, Peter backs out onto the landing, trying to make sense of what he’s seeing. He lashes out at Gwen in a rage, insisting she must be an impostor. She collapses to the floor, sobbing, as he storms off down the street. Boiling mad, Peter changes into Spider-Man and makes his way over to the hospital to visit his aunt. By the time he is allowed into Aunt May’s room, Peter has calmed down. When Aunt May wakes up, she is of course more concerned with Peter’s welfare than her own. Exhausted and overwrought, he spends the rest of the day with her in the hospital and sleeps on a sofa in the waiting room that night.
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The following morning, Peter learns that the Scorpion has just robbed a bank near Wall Street and was last seen heading toward Midtown. Since Aunt May’s condition has stabilized, he decides to change into Spider-Man and go after his old foe. While searching for the Scorpion, Spider-Man lends Nighthawk a hand with tracking down the Looter, a third-rate super-villain the web-slinger apprehended four years ago. While Nighthawk questions the prison authorities about the Looter’s escape, Spider-Man checks out his old hideout, only to discover that a religious cult called the Innocents of God has taken over the property while the villain’s been in jail. Shortly after leaving, though, Spider-Man is ambushed by the Looter, who’s now calling himself the Meteor Man. Their brief fight ends when the crook’s getaway balloon carries him higher than Spider-Man can leap, but Nighthawk arrives in time to save the wall-crawler from a nasty fall. However, Nighthawk refuses to go after the Looter, arguing that being sent back to prison won’t address his mental health issues. Annoyed, Spider-Man points out that the Looter’s super-strength and larcenous tendencies make him dangerous, and he accuses Nighthawk of being a coward. In response, Nighthawk punches Spider-Man in the face and flies off. Ashamed of his outburst, the web-slinger decides to continue searching for the Scorpion.
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Minutes later, the Scorpion gets the drop on Spider-Man, leading to a fight in a cement processing plant. The Scorpion manages to knock Spider-Man into a large mixing vat, which the villain then activates, flooding the vat with water. By the time the wall-crawler escapes from the trap, the Scorpion has gotten away. Tired and soggy, Spider-Man makes his way back to the hospital, where he changes into Peter Parker. He is enraged to find the Gwen impostor there with Mary Jane, Joe Robertson, Betty Brant, and Ned Leeds. Ned calms Peter down, revealing that when “Gwen” went to the <i>Daily Bugle</i> following her encounter with Peter, they naturally assumed she was an impostor as well. However, when they compared the woman’s fingerprints to those taken during Gwen’s autopsy, they were a match. Ned then arranged to have Gwen’s body exhumed, and sure enough, it was still in its grave. Thus, for some inexplicable reason, there appear to be two Gwen Stacys—one dead and the other very much alive. Wracked with confusion and fear, Gwen collapses into Peter’s arms, begging him for help. Peter can only glance helplessly at Mary Jane, who is clearly disturbed by this bizarre turn of events. Not knowing what else to do, Peter walks Gwen’s doppelgänger over to Betty’s Gramercy Park apartment, where she’s staying for the time being. During an awkward conversation, Gwen reveals that she has no memory of the last two years but takes comfort in the fact that she and Peter still love each other. She kisses him on the stoop but becomes embarrassed and upset when he does not return her affection. After she has gone inside the building, Peter walks away, frustrated and dejected. He can no longer deny to himself that he has fallen in love with Mary Jane.
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Hoping some late-afternoon web-swinging will help him clear his head, Peter changes into Spider-Man and breaks into the office of the Scorpion’s parole officer to get the villain’s address. This leads him to a seedy hotel in Washington Heights where he discovers the money the Scorpion stole from the bank hidden in the closet. After tipping off the police, Spider-Man spends an hour searching for his foe before deciding to check on Aunt May again. At the hospital, Peter is concerned to find Aunt May talking about the “rumors” of Gwen’s death and realizes she’s created a safe fantasy for herself where Gwen never died rather than face the reality of her resurrection. Suddenly, the Scorpion leaps through the window, saying the Jackal told him he would find Spider-Man there. Shocked, Peter changes back into Spider-Man after the Scorpion stalks off down the corridor and drives the villain out of the hospital. While they’re fighting on the tower of the Chrysler Building, the Scorpion ends up clinging precariously to one of the decorative eagles and begs the wall-crawler not to kill him. Spider-Man agrees not to send the Scorpion plummeting to his death if he’ll apologize to the Parkers for frightening them. Thus, after being turned over to the police, the Scorpion is led up to Aunt May’s room in chains, where he offers a perfunctory apology. Peter, who has gotten there first, is satisfied, but Aunt May tells the Scorpion that he should be ashamed of himself.
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Peter manages to pass all his classes and complete his senior year, though he still has a ways to go to fulfill all the requirements for graduation. He spends Christmas with Aunt May in the hospital, worried that the Jackal has somehow discovered his secret identity. Feeling very conflicted, Peter visits with Gwen a few times, as she is clearly on the verge of an emotional breakdown, but does not make time to see Mary Jane. Amid all this personal turmoil, Peter is somewhat gladdened by news reports that his hero, Captain America, is back in action, though he thinks something really should be done about the murderous Punisher. Looking ahead, Peter can’t even imagine what travails the new year will bring.
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<b>Notes:</b>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>January–February 1967 –</b> Spider-Man’s adventures resume in <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i> #132 and <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #21. The Molten Man does not drown in the river and will return to menace the web-slinger yet again.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>March 1967 –</b> Morbius and the Man-Wolf team up against Spider-Man in the one-shot <i>Giant-Size Super-Heroes</i> #1. John Jameson has indeed become the Man-Wolf again, but his father is covering for him.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>May 1967 –</b> Aunt May is saved from a flu epidemic in <i>Giant-Size Spider-Man</i> #1. The European aristocrat that Peter encounters briefly aboard the ocean liner is none other than Dracula, lord of vampires. This story interweaves with the Human Torch / Iceman tale in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #23, where we learn that the slippery burglar in the jewelry store was Equinox, the Thermodynamic Man. While Peter is taking his shower following the hijacking of the sightseeing cruise, Harry Osborn sneaks into his room and finds his Spider-Man costume, thus confirming his suspicions about his roommate’s dual identity. Suffering another mental breakdown, Harry fails all his spring semester classes.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>June 1967 –</b> The public becomes aware of Captain America’s retirement in <i>Captain America</i> #177. In <i>Giant-Size Spider-Man</i> #2, Spidey meets Shang-Chi, as well as his English associates Black Jack Tarr and Sir Denis Nayland Smith. Fu Manchu’s plan was to take advantage of the destruction of the television aerial atop the Empire State Building by the Mandrill’s Black Spectre terrorist group last month (as seen in <i>Daredevil</i> #111–112) by rigging the replacement aerial to broadcast a mind-control signal that would bring the Eastern Seaboard under his subjugation. Near the end of the month, Spider-Man makes a couple of brief cameo appearances web-swinging past the Daily Bugle Building in <i>Creatures on the Loose</i> #32 & 37.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>July 1967 –</b> The bizarre weather phenomena result from Dormammu imprisoning Gaea in <i>Doctor Strange</i> v.2 #8–9. The people of Manhattan are then rendered insensate for two days by alien invaders in <i>Giant-Size Fantastic Four</i> #3.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>August 1967 –</b> <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i> #136 incorrectly asserts that Peter is a college junior and that he and Mary Jane knew each other in high school. They didn’t actually meet until after he had started at ESU. The movie they saw together just before the story opens was most likely the James Bond film <i>You Only Live Twice</i>. Since the Green Goblin’s nuclear bomb is an experimental “clean fusion” device, there is no radioactive contamination when it explodes in the Hudson River. The mutant featured in <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i> #138 is William Turner, a.k.a. the Mindworm, but Spider-Man doesn’t learn his tragic backstory. The version of the “city-stealers” story presented in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #28 reflects Hercules’s later self-aggrandizing embellishments, as confirmed in <i>Hulk</i> #241. That issue also reveals the villains’ behind-the-scenes employers to be They Who Wield Power. The Fantastic Four and the Avengers are not at home because they’re already out rescuing people from quake-damaged buildings. In <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i> #140, the Jackal is just messing with Peter; he already knows that he’s Spider-Man.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>October 1967 –</b> Spider-Man meets DeSinna and Tarros in <i>Giant-Size Spider-Man</i> #3. Doc Savage and his associates—Ham, Johnny, Long Tom, Monk, and Renny—did not exist in the Original Marvel Universe. DeSinna thought seeing famous heroes of the 1930s battling her foe would convince Spider-Man that Tarros was a rampaging monster that deserved to be killed. She did not realize the heroes she chose were fictional. The death of the original Mysterio, Quentin Beck, was merely a hoax that he engineered so he could escape from jail. Beck is secretly using Berkhart as a patsy, as revealed in <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i> #198. Near the end of the month, as seen in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #31, Spider-Man and Iron Fist join forces against Drom, the Backwards Man, but neither hero is left with any memory of the incident afterwards.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>December 1967 –</b> Spider-Man is among the various superheroes seen trapped within Loki’s magical spheres in <i>Thor</i> #233. He and the Punisher then take on Moses Magnum in <i>Giant-Size Spider-Man</i> #4. Thanks to his protective suit, Magnum survives exposure to the flesh-eating gas and gets away. As revealed in <i>Spectacular Spider-Man</i> #149, Gwen’s doppelgänger was created when the Jackal injected a young woman named Joyce Delaney with a genetically altered virus derived from Gwen’s DNA. This brings us up to <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i> #146 and <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #33. After about six months of calling himself Nomad, Steve Rogers becomes Captain America again in <i>Captain America</i> #183.
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<i><b>Jump Back:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2018/02/omu-spider-man-year-five.html">Spider-Man – Year Five</a></i>
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<i><b>Next Issue:</b> Doctor Strange – Year Six</i>
<br /><br /><br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-73371436391919080452023-03-07T10:13:00.104-06:002023-12-07T14:37:07.601-06:00OMU: Fantastic Four -- Year SevenThe <b>Fantastic Four</b> finally regain their footing as editor Roy Thomas and writer Gerry Conway wrap up their long-running storyline about Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Girl’s marital troubles. However, they otherwise maintain the book’s new status quo by keeping Medusa on the team and shuttling the Invisible Girl off to the sidelines. With Mister Fantastic back on an even keel and the Thing starring in his own team-up book, <i>Marvel Two-in-One</i>, the focus of most issues of <i>Fantastic Four</i> during this period shifts to the Human Torch. Intent on outgrowing his “hot-headed teen hero” persona, the Torch becomes a bit more introspective and independent. The character’s popularity led to him being periodically featured in the lead role in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i>. Additionally, Marvel was experimenting with large-format quarterly titles at this time, such as <i>Giant-Size Fantastic Four</i>. Despite these extra storytelling opportunities, though, most of the villains encountered over the next twelve months in the characters’ lives proved to be rather minor additions to the Fantastic Four’s rogues’ gallery.
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<b>Note:</b> The following timeline depicts the <b>Original Marvel Universe</b> (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2004/12/the-original-marvel-universe.html">previous posts</a> for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
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Let us continue with… <b>The True History of the Fantastic Four!</b>
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<b>January 1967 –</b> At their Baxter Building headquarters, Ben Grimm, Johnny Storm, and Medusa work out in one of the gymnasiums. Johnny tries playing a prank on Ben but goes too far and makes him really angry. Complaining about the way Johnny treats him, Ben storms out and goes to help Alicia Masters look after Wundarr, the alien superman with the mind of an infant. When Medusa confronts Johnny about his recent obnoxious behavior, he admits that the thought of Crystal marrying Quicksilver is driving him nuts. He just can’t understand where he and Crystal went wrong or why she dumped him. Medusa is about to respond when they are interrupted by Reed Richards, who conveys a message from Black Bolt asking Medusa to report back to the Inhumans’ Great Refuge to discuss something called “Project Revival.” Reed is curious as to what that is, but Medusa is evasive. She invites Johnny to accompany her, and though he is reluctant—not wanting to see his ex-girlfriend and her fiancé—he eventually agrees to go. About ten hours later, though, the Fantastic Four’s Pogo Plane is shot down some fifty miles out from the Great Refuge and crash-lands on a remote peak in the Himalayas. Johnny flames on, grabs Medusa, and flies her to safety. Unfortunately, they soon realize that, with the ship’s radio destroyed, they are trapped on the mountain and could freeze to death if Johnny’s flame gives out. To make matters worse, they are ambushed by several “abominable snowmen” with ice-cold skin. Their leader, Ternak, demands to know why the two strangers have invaded his domain, suspecting they’ve come to steal his new secret weapon. After a struggle, Johnny manages to drive Ternak off with a heat blast to the face, but the exertion causes him to pass out. With the other “abominable snowmen” in retreat, Medusa drags Johnny to a place of shelter under an outcropping of rock. It isn’t long before the sun sets, plunging them into near-total darkness, and she worries they might not survive.
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Luckily, Johnny soon revives and provides some light and heat with a small flame he generates in his hands as they huddle together against the rock. Hearing someone lurking in the darkness, Johnny creates a flare to illuminate the area, allowing Medusa to grab the elderly “abominable snowman” who’s spying on them. He begs for mercy, insisting that he owes no allegiance to Ternak, and tells them of the history of his people, who call themselves the Chosen. Five centuries ago, he reveals, a terrible storm wiped out a party of monks from a monastery that had once been nearby, leaving a sole survivor. The man took refuge in a cave, where he discovered their race of “abominable snowmen.” Despite his kung fu skills, the monk was badly outnumbered by the savage beast-men. However, when he produced a mirrored amulet from under his cloak, the beast-men were awestruck and worshiped him. Stranded there, the monk started teaching the beast-men to build rudimentary huts and other skills. Within a couple decades, they were constructing sophisticated towers and learned much of the outside world from the monk, whom they called the Master. For sixty years, he remained among them until finally dying of old age. Ever since, the Chosen have sought to live out the Master’s teachings, but when Ternak recently rose to power, he turned them to his lust for conquest. Suddenly, an energy beam disintegrates the elderly creature, and Johnny and Medusa spin around to see that Ternak and his troops have found them. The beast-men pounce on them and quickly knock the two heroes unconscious.
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When he comes to, Johnny finds himself shackled in a dungeon. Ternak attempts to interrogate him, but Johnny refuses to cooperate. Once Ternak has left, Johnny realizes he and Medusa will be executed as spies unless they escape. Thus, he quickly burns through his shackles and melts the door to his cell. Finding Medusa imprisoned nearby, he releases her as well. They then fight their way through Ternak’s troops while looking for a way out. Unfortunately, they stumble upon Ternak’s secret weapon instead, a “climate cannon” meant to freeze the world, making it cold enough for the Chosen to leave their mountain stronghold. Ternak turns the weapon on the two outworlders, but Johnny manages to flame on just in time and overcomes its effects. In the ensuing battle with Ternak and his troops, Medusa throws an icy boulder at the climate cannon, damaging it. While their foes are thus distracted, Johnny and Medusa slip into a side tunnel, where a more human-looking female member of the Chosen leads them away into a series of enormous ice caverns—an awe-inspiring twilight world of glittering colors, stunning ice formations, and almost overpowering silence. After walking for quite a while, Johnny admits to Medusa that his feelings toward Reed have grown more sympathetic in the four months since Franklin lapsed into a coma. Medusa agrees that, in his anger, Johnny treated Reed unfairly, for Reed had no choice but to shut down his son’s mind before his runaway mutant powers destroyed the world. Their guide then leads them through a dark tunnel into a vast chamber humming with bizarre electronic machinery. Johnny and Medusa are shocked to find the incredibly ancient figure of the Master—still very much alive. The Master explains that when he died some 440 years ago, a secret sect of the Chosen placed him within the “entropy globe” surrounding him, which brought him back to a semblance of life. They have tended to his needs and followed his teachings ever since, but he is saddened to see that the rest of the Chosen have descended back into savagery under Ternak. With the outworlders’ help, he reveals, he can ensure that Ternak’s dreams of conquest are brought to an end once and for all, though it will come at a terrible cost. He provides the pair with a weapon, which Medusa assumes will end the threat posed by the Chosen by wiping them out. But not being one for empathy, she takes the weapon and heads out, convinced that Johnny, young and idealistic as he is, has missed the dark portent in the Master’s words.
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Returning to Ternak’s citadel, Johnny attacks the tyrant and his troops, finding that they have already repaired the damage to the climate cannon. His plan to keep their foes busy while Medusa sets up the Master’s weapon begins to unravel, though, as he is badly outnumbered by the Chosen. Luckily, the Thing charges into the fray, having tracked his teammates down after losing contact with the Pogo Plane, and turns the tide of the battle. Glad to see his old friend, Johnny apologizes to Ben for his bad behavior of late. Just as Medusa activates the weapon, Ternak pulls a gun on Ben, prompting Ben to knock him into the climate cannon. The machine explodes and Ternak is killed in the blast. However, Medusa finds there is no way to shut off the strange rays emanating from the Master’s weapon. To the outworlders’ astonishment, the “abominable snowmen” suddenly transform into ordinary men. The girl, who had apparently already been transformed, steps forward and explains that this was the Master’s plan all along—the Chosen will no longer be a threat to the world since they must now leave their icy domain and become part of the world. The terrible cost the Master foresaw, she reveals, is the loss of their unique culture. With Ternak dead, the Chosen wish the strangers well and escort them back to the surface. Ben leads Johnny and Medusa to his aircraft and flies them the rest of the way to the Great Refuge.
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When they arrive in Attilan, Black Bolt seems a bit irritated that Medusa has brought both the Human Torch and the Thing along and decides that they should not be privy to their discussions regarding “Project Revival.” Thus, Black Bolt, Medusa, and Triton retire to a private chamber, leaving Karnak and Gorgon to attend to their guests. While Ben plays with Lockjaw, Johnny has a brief, awkward encounter with Crystal, who tells him about the preparations for her wedding in June. Quicksilver, however, is busy with other matters and does not make an appearance. The next day, Ben, Johnny, and Medusa fly back to New York together, though she refuses to divulge anything about “Project Revival.”
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<b>February 1967 –</b> Ben, Alicia, and Wundarr are alone in the Baxter Building when Bruce Banner pays an unexpected visit, hoping to work with Reed on a cure for the Hulk. Ben wishes him luck, noting ruefully that Reed has had no success in curing him of being the Thing despite constant attempts. Though Reed, Johnny, and Medusa are off testing a new aircraft design for the Black Panther, Banner is excited when Ben mentions a “psi-amplifier” that Reed invented last week, since he’d been thinking along the same lines. Ben leads Banner to the laboratory where the psi-amplifier is located, and the scientist works through the night modifying the device. In the morning, he’s ready to test his theory that the reconfigured psi-amplifier will be able to cure both himself and Ben by harnessing the different forms of radiation in their bodies (cosmic rays versus gamma rays) to cancel each other out. Unfortunately, something goes terribly wrong, the machine explodes, and when the smoke clears, Ben finds that his mind has somehow been transferred into the Hulk’s body. To make matters worse, the Thing’s body is now inhabited by the Hulk’s consciousness. Barely comprehending what’s happened to him, Hulk lashes out in a blind rage, wrecking the laboratory. Finding it difficult to adjust to being in the Hulk’s body, Ben tries to restrain his rampaging rival. When their clash carries them into an alley outside, the situation gets more complicated when Thundra turns up and naturally mistakes Ben for the Hulk. Intent on defending Ben from the green monster, Thundra leaves herself open to a sucker-punch from “the Thing” and is knocked out. The brawl between the two behemoths continues for several minutes, until they crash through the sidewalk and land in the path of an oncoming subway train. Ben is stunned, and the Hulk seems heedless of the danger. At the last moment, Thundra leaps down through the hole and stops the train, causing a huge wreck that injures most of the passengers and crew. Wanting to be left alone, “the Thing” slams his fists into the ground, creating a shockwave that knocks Thundra off her feet and causes further damage to the train. Ben tries again to subdue the Hulk, but their running battle takes them to Madison Square Garden in Hell’s Kitchen, where they interrupt a boxing match. The audience panics and bolts for the exits, creating a human stampede. Luckily, Mister Fantastic, the Human Torch, and Medusa arrive on the scene, having returned to New York and tracked the combatants to the arena. When “the Thing” attacks the Human Torch with unbridled savagery, Mister Fantastic quickly deduces what’s really going on. Using a nearby first-aid kit, Reed prepares a powerful tranquilizer and injects it into the Hulk’s body. Ben at first fears Reed has made a terrible mistake, but a moment later he finds himself back in his own body, the mind-swap reversed when the drug caused the Hulk to change back into Bruce Banner. Though the crisis has ended, Thundra comes charging into the arena and whacks Ben with her chain, knocking him down. She castigates him for his apparent treachery and storms out. Ben is outraged, but Reed reminds him that Thundra has no idea what’s going on. Swallowing his pride, Ben catches up to Thundra, explains the situation, and apologizes. She assures him there’s no hard feelings—after all, he’s only a man. They chat a bit and part on friendly terms. When Banner regains consciousness, he confirms Reed’s assumptions about what happened and elects to leave the city before he causes any more destruction. Feeling bad that he’s been too depressed to make any headway in finding a cure for the Hulk, Reed gives Banner some warm clothes to wear.
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Returning to the Baxter Building, Reed is annoyed to have to once again deal with the angry property manager, Walter Collins, who’s upset about the damage to the skyscraper caused by the Thing and the Hulk’s rampage. Reed knows Collins wants to break the Fantastic Four’s lease to be free of the rent-control limitations on their headquarters complex, but he skillfully outmaneuvers the irate man. Johnny is impressed, having had to avoid dealing with Collins himself earlier.
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<b>March 1967 –</b> Susan Richards continues to live at the horse farm in rural Pennsylvania with her childhood friend Carol Landers and her husband Bob. Sue spends most of her time caring for her comatose toddler, Franklin. Carol and Bob hold out hope that Sue will reconcile with Reed, but Sue is ready to move on with her life. Though this causes some tension in the house, Carol and Bob remain supportive. When needed, Sue uses her invisibility and force-field powers to help the couple with their horses. Towards the end of the month, Sue is surprised when Prince Namor of Atlantis, a.k.a. the Sub-Mariner, reaches out to her, offering a sympathetic ear. Unbeknownst to Carol and Bob, Sue and Namor meet a few times to talk. She describes how Reed broke her heart by being so cold and distant after Franklin was born and then plotted for months to strip away the boy’s mutant powers. Namor is incensed by Reed’s behavior and offers Sue his full support.
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<b>April 1967 –</b> Ben, Johnny, and Medusa are shocked when Reed receives a summons from the divorce court—Sue has started official proceedings against him. Reed is utterly devastated, so Medusa does her best to behave compassionately, offering him her unconditional support. Johnny is surprised that things have gone this far, but Ben is overcome with rage and storms out, determined to confront Sue. Ignoring Reed’s protests, Ben launches the Jet-Cycle and flies west toward Pennsylvania. Johnny quickly catches up to Ben and joins him, insisting that, after nearly a year and a half of separation, Sue has good reason to end her marriage if that’s what she wants to do. Their argument is cut short when the Sub-Mariner suddenly bursts out of Lake Wallenpaupack and smashes the Jet-Cycle. Johnny flames on and takes to the air, but Ben falls to a large rock in the middle of the lake. After fighting with Ben and Johnny for several minutes, Namor declares that Sue is his woman now and that she and Franklin are under his royal protection. Warning the pair not to come looking for Sue, the Sub-Mariner flies off. Remembering that Sue had a crush on Namor before she and Reed were married, Ben and Johnny wonder if she could really have run off to live with him in his undersea kingdom.
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They make their way to the Landers’ horse farm, where Carol and Bob report that the Sub-Mariner abducted Sue and Franklin earlier that day. Worried, Ben and Johnny return to the Baxter Building, although, since the Jet-Cycle has been destroyed, it takes them over three hours to get back. Medusa asks if what they have to tell Reed can wait until morning, but Ben says no. He marches into Reed’s laboratory and announces that Sue and Franklin have been taken captive by Namor. Enraged, Reed spends the next five hours tracking the low-level energy emissions from the black costume he designed for Namor last year, finally locating him at an outpost in the South Atlantic, some 600 miles off the African coast. Since the Pogo Plane hasn’t been replaced yet, they take the Fantasti-Car and arrive on the scene about ten hours later. Converting the Fantasti-Car into submarine mode, the Fantastic Four soon encounter Namor atop an ornate tower built on the ocean floor and attack him, having prepared themselves for underwater combat. While Reed, Johnny, and Medusa keep Namor busy, Ben slips inside the tower and soon finds Sue inside a pressurized chamber. Watching the fight on a large viewscreen, Sue insists they’ve made a terrible mistake. She dons an oxygen helmet and leads Ben back outside, where she stops the fight and announces that she and Franklin weren’t kidnapped—she went with Namor willingly and intends to stay with him in Atlantis forever. Reed is heartbroken and orders his team to withdraw.
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Ten hours later, the Fantasti-Car returns to the Baxter Building. The whole way, Reed has fixated on Namor’s cruel accusations that he betrayed Sue and practically drove her into Namor’s arms. He finally collapses in despair, forcing Ben to take over the controls and bring the Fantasti-Car in for a safe landing. Humiliated and exhausted, Reed demands that Ben and Johnny stop talking about it; he just wants to go to bed. Unfortunately, they are ambushed by the Wizard, the Sandman, and the Trapster, who quickly gain the upper hand against their distraught foes. Medusa seems uncharacteristically frustrated and impatient with the battle, causing her teammates to wonder if it’s because she was a founding member of the villains’ team, the Frightful Four. Reed, Johnny, and Medusa have all been captured when Thundra—who has also quit the Frightful Four—suddenly comes crashing in to rescue Ben. Though Thundra seems motivated primarily by the idea that no one will defeat the Thing except her, Ben is still glad to see her. Together, they knock out the Sandman while Johnny overcomes the Trapster and captures the Wizard. Once Reed and Medusa have been freed from the Wizard’s anti-gravity disks, the villains are tossed into a containment cell to await the arrival of the police. Reed is curious whether Thundra had advanced knowledge of the ambush, but before she can answer, Johnny calls them all over to the window. Out in the harbor, they can see gigantic sea monsters surfacing, being directed by a sinister masked figure. Next to him stands the Sub-Mariner, with Sue at his side, apparently intent on invading New York City.
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Enraged by Namor’s effrontery, Reed vows to make him pay and storms off to the vehicle hangar. Medusa suggests to Johnny that there’s something strange about the way the Sub-Mariner is acting and decides to stay behind to consider the matter. Annoyed, Johnny hurries to catch up with the others and finds Reed launching the Fantasti-Car with both Ben and Thundra aboard. When they reach the harbor, they see the sea monsters smashing up some docks as an NYPD riot squad tries to drive them off with small-arms fire. Reed attacks Namor but is nearly debilitated by the guilt and shame that Namor’s barrage of criticism stirs up within him. Ignoring Sue’s objections, Namor fights with Johnny and Ben as well, insisting that they’ve obviously taken Reed’s side. Angry over the way Namor is being treated, Sue suddenly creates an invisible force field in the Fantasti-Car’s path. The vehicle slams into it and is completely demolished, sending its passengers plunging into the water. The Sub-Mariner immediately declares victory and orders his sea monsters to destroy the city. Finding their guns useless, the police riot squad retreats as Namor, Sue, and their masked compatriot alight on the docks. Ben swims to the dock and tries to drive the sea monsters back, followed by Thundra, who brawls with the Sub-Mariner. Overcoming a few of the creatures, Ben confronts Sue and insists that she’s the only one who can stop the fighting, since neither Reed nor Namor will ever surrender. Seeing how determined Reed is not to lose her without a fight, Sue begins to doubt her conviction that her husband never really loved her. Ben encourages her to rethink her position, prompting Sue to realize that what she and Reed had was real love—complicated and messy and as full of heartache as joy—unlike the romantic fantasy that Namor has to offer. She rushes up to Reed and embraces him, saying they can forgive each other for everything that’s happened. As Reed and Sue kiss passionately, Ben tells the Sub-Mariner that he’s clearly not wanted around there anymore. Smiling, Namor says he’ll gladly depart now that he is no longer needed. He flies off to join the sinister masked figure, who has guided the sea monsters back into the harbor, whereupon Ben and Johnny decide that Namor must be crazy. As the invaders retreat beneath the waves, Reed, Sue, Ben, Johnny, and Thundra head back to the Baxter Building, where Medusa seems unusually satisfied with herself.
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In the days that follow, Sue brings the comatose Franklin back home to the Baxter Building, and Reed invents a battery of devices to monitor the boy’s condition while also working on rebuilding the Fantasti-Car, the Pogo Plane, and the Jet-Cycle, as well as developing new vehicle designs and other projects. However, Reed makes sure to spend as much time as possible with Sue, intent on rebuilding their relationship. The couple finally talks in depth about the underlying issues that led to their separation and Sue’s frustrations with Reed as a husband and father. Reed comes to realize that his approach to fatherhood had been unconsciously patterned after his own father, himself a remote and distracted scientist, and he resolves to do better. Hoping that his new perspective has not come too late, Reed promises to do everything he can to bring Franklin safely back to consciousness. At the same time, Sue is intrigued by the enigma of Wundarr and offers to help Ben and Alicia look after him. She learns that Wundarr’s intellect has developed significantly since he came to live with them late last year, and he seems to now have the mind of a toddler. Though Medusa shows no interest in either Wundarr or Franklin, she seems genuinely glad to have Sue around again. Medusa and Johnny start spending more time together, with each gaining genuine insight into the other’s peculiar culture.
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<b>May 1967 –</b> Johnny is annoyed when Spider-Man swings through the window of the Baxter Building, assuming that the Spider-Mobile needs maintenance. However, he quickly learns that the web-slinger is on a life-or-death mission and needs to borrow an aircraft to intercept an ocean liner crossing the Atlantic. Johnny gives Spider-Man a quick tutorial on piloting a brand-new compact aircraft and sends him on his way. Before departing, Spider-Man suggests Johnny check out a peculiar burglary that just occurred at E. 47th Street and Park Avenue. With nothing better to do, Johnny decides to follow up on it and flies over to Faversham’s jewelry store, where he finds a large patch of ice on the sidewalk despite the air temperature being above 60°. Suddenly, he is hit in the back of the head with a large ball of ice and decides the mutant known as Iceman must be responsible. Flaming on again, Johnny flies off and finds Iceman about five blocks away, moving along the rooftops on one of his ice-slides. Accusing Iceman of robbing the jewelry store, the Human Torch starts a fight with the brash young mutant, and they trade punches for a couple minutes until a Rolls-Royce pulls up to the curb. Cyclops, Marvel Girl, and Angel get out of the car and break up the fight, revealing that Iceman was with them when Faversham’s was burglarized. The X-Men insist that Iceman return to their headquarters for an important mission, but he refuses, intent on finding out who framed him. Johnny sheepishly offers to help Iceman track down the impostor, which Iceman accepts with no hard feelings. They set off together as the rest of the X-Men drive away.
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The two heroes return to Faversham’s to see an explosion tear a hole in the side of the building. Taking a closer look, they are surprised to see the edges of the hole have been fused smooth, as if they were melted, and wonder if they’re dealing with a phony Human Torch as well. The burglar, wearing some kind of all-concealing metallic bodysuit, tries to make a break for it, but Johnny tackles him. The thief’s bodysuit gets torn at the shoulder, so he rips it off, revealing himself to have a body that alternates waves of ice and fire. Calling himself “Equinox, the Thermodynamic Man,” he vows to kill the two heroes for interfering with his plans. Equinox staggers them with a barrage of alternating blasts of fire and ice. Then, hearing police sirens approaching, Equinox leaps atop a passing city bus, but the heroes pursue him. When conventional fisticuffs fail to stop Equinox, the Human Torch and Iceman decide to try hitting him with fire and ice blasts simultaneously. Equinox cries out that it has caused his internal energies to reach critical mass, whereupon there is a massive explosion that leaves a smoking crater in the street. Thinking their foe blown to bits, the Human Torch and Iceman unwrap the package he was attempting to steal and are surprised to find only an atomic clock. Curious as to why Equinox was so desperate to get his hands on something not particularly valuable, the Torch notices the bottom of the crater opens up into the sewer system and wonders if the crook managed to get away after all. Later that night, Spider-Man returns the Fantastic Four’s aircraft undamaged.
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Several days later, Charles Xavier pays a visit to Reed Richards and reveals himself to be the mysterious leader of the X-Men known only as Professor X. He has come hoping to obtain the formula for unstable molecules in order to create costumes for some newly recruited members of his mutant taskforce. Appreciating the trust Xavier has placed in him, Reed agrees to share the formula and helps him produce about half a dozen individualized outfits. Reed also consults with Xavier about the dangerous potential of Franklin’s mutant powers, and Xavier offers whatever assistance he can provide going forward.
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Mister Fantastic, the Thing, the Human Torch, and Medusa are finishing up a test flight of a sub-orbital shuttlecraft for NASA when a bright flash sweeps across the planet. Temporarily blinded, the Thing brings the ship down for a rough crash-landing in a wilderness area near Cape Kennedy in Florida. Emerging from the wreck, the Human Torch scouts around the area but finds no trace of civilization, prompting Mister Fantastic to assume they are somewhere in the Everglades. Suddenly, they are attacked by a group of primitives wielding Stone-Age weapons, though the savages are easily defeated. The Human Torch wonders if they’ve traveled through time, but then Uatu, the Watcher materializes and explains that they haven’t—the rest of the world has been regressed to a primordial state by an unknown time meddler using the team’s copy of Doctor Doom’s time machine. Noting that he is willfully violating his oath of non-interference, the Watcher agrees to send the Fantastic Four back in time to repair the damage to the timestream. Thus, Reed and Johnny find themselves transported to a small town in upstate New York in the fall of 1777, where they rescue General George Washington from the stockade at a British fort. Washington reveals that he had been captured by Hessian mercenaries after the sudden appearance of the time meddler caused his horse to throw him to the ground. Meanwhile, Ben and Medusa travel to Chicago in 1928, where Ben finds himself temporarily restored to human form. Medusa breaks into a clothing store, where they take some period outfits as well as cash from the register. At a nearby speakeasy, they find the time meddler talking to some gangsters, warning them about the coming stock market crash. Ben recognizes him as the Baxter Building’s mailman, Willie Lumpkin, and interrupts. The gangsters object to Ben dragging Lumpkin out, precipitating a fistfight. With Medusa’s help, Ben hustles Lumpkin into a car parked outside and speeds off, but the gangsters pursue them with guns blazing. Ben loses control of the car and crashes into an apartment building. However, he then transforms back into the Thing and chases off the gangsters. The five time-travelers are then reunited in a bizarre landscape straight out of a Salvador Dali painting, where they are confronted by a crystalline giant calling himself Tempus. Having existed in that unchanging limbo for countless eons, Tempus longs for death and admits having lured Lumpkin to the Fantastic Four’s time machine in the hope that his bumbling through the time continuum would cause it to collapse. Angered by the Fantastic Four’s interference, Tempus hits them with eye-beams that cause them to age rapidly, though the effect proves transitory. Working together, the Fantastic Four cause Tempus to topple over, and his massive crystalline form shatters when he hits the floor. The fabric of reality immediately begins to unravel around them, but the time-travelers are rescued by the Watcher and returned to the Baxter Building. Uatu admits he knew about Tempus all along but claims his oath prevented him from saying any more than he did. Even so, he erases Lumpkin’s memory of the entire affair before dematerializing again. As the confused mailman makes his exit, Ben wonders who will have to foot the bill for NASA’s wrecked spacecraft.
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Running a series of tests on Wundarr, Reed determines that the young man’s superhuman abilities derive from the background radiation his cells are constantly absorbing. However, he is at a loss to explain why Wundarr has the intellect of a toddler—as though he spent his entire life inside a sensory-deprivation chamber—since there are no signs of brain damage. Suddenly, Wundarr’s body releases an explosive burst of pure energy that wrecks the lab, sending rubble raining down on the street below. As Ben heads down to see if anyone was injured, Reed realizes that the energy in Wundarr’s cells must have built up to the maximum level that could be stored there, resulting in a violent, unfocused discharge. Thus, he quickly designs a special costume for Wundarr to wear which will keep the energy in his body circulating safely and allow it to be released harmlessly through a device in the belt buckle. Ben soon returns with Daredevil, who was passing by when the explosion occurred. Reed helps Daredevil retrieve his billy club, which is dangling from the Baxter Building by its grappling hook, and apologizes. As Ben leads Wundarr out to change into his new outfit, Daredevil continues on his way.
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A little while later, Ben catches Daredevil trying to steal the new Fantasti-Car from its rooftop hangar. Hurriedly, Daredevil explains that he’s been on the trail of the terrorist organization known as Black Spectre since they tried to assassinate New York District Attorney Franklin Nelson last Christmas. Now, it seems his erstwhile partner, the Black Widow, has fallen in with the terrorists aboard their blimp, and he needs to go after her. Ben immediately fires up the Fantasti-Car’s engines and flies Daredevil to the villains’ airship, which turns out to be a jet aircraft disguised as a blimp. Smashing through the craft’s electrified hull, the Thing comes face-to-face with the hypnotized Black Widow; a strange-looking woman calling herself Nekra, Priestess of Darkness; and numerous uniformed Black Spectre agents. The Thing shrugs off their attacks and breaks into an adjoining chamber, where he finds the organization’s hooded leader standing on a gigantic baboon-like idol amidst an artificial jungle. Grabbing the leader, the Thing rips off his hood and is so shocked by his mandrill-like face that he leaves himself open to a hypnotic whammy. Paralyzed, Ben is carried out by several agents and dumped into the Fantasti-Car alongside the unconscious Daredevil. The Fantasti-Car is then sent plummeting toward the ground, but Daredevil comes to in time to restart the engines and pull the craft out of its nose-dive. Ben finally shakes off the hypnotic effect and lands the Fantasti-Car safely on the New Jersey Palisades. He is ready to go back for round two, but Daredevil decides to continue the fight on his own. Thus, Ben flies Daredevil back to Manhattan while attempting to describe the terrorist leader’s animal-like face. Daredevil thanks Ben for the information and swings off on his billy-club cable.
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The next day, the Fantastic Four receive a message from Black Spectre claiming that they have an atomic bomb hidden somewhere under Manhattan, which they threaten to detonate if the Fantastic Four interfere in their overthrow of the U.S. government. Soon after, the terrorist group invades Washington, D.C. and storms the White House, only to be defeated by Daredevil and the Black Widow. The Fantastic Four are relieved when the bomb threat turns out to be a hoax.
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Ben takes Wundarr out for a day at the Central Park Zoo, but while he is distracted buying some cotton candy, Wundarr uses his super-strength to free a number of large animals from their cages. As the crowd panics, Wundarr bursts into tears, but Ben is too busy helping the zookeepers round up the animals. When he is finished, Ben finds Wundarr being comforted by Namorita and her college roommate Annie Christopher. Namorita tells the frustrated Ben not to yell at Wundarr, since the childlike alien clearly has no understanding of the consequences of his actions. Annoyed, Ben accuses Namorita and her cousin, the Sub-Mariner, of abandoning Wundarr last November, leaving the Fantastic Four to look after him. Namorita insists that she had no choice then but offers to take charge of Wundarr now that her circumstances have changed. Learning that Namorita is attending college out on Long Island, Ben agrees to give her custody of Wundarr and takes her contact information. As Namorita and Annie lead Wundarr away, Captain America comes charging up, along with his girlfriend, former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter. Having seen the commotion caused by the escaped animals, Cap demands to know why Ben is letting the perpetrator walk away. Ben invites the couple to the Baxter Building for coffee, and on the way, he explains about Wundarr and his strange situation.
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When they arrive, they find Reed and Medusa performing maintenance on the team’s time machine. An accident causes a young woman named Tarin to materialize from the year 3014. Everyone is horrified by Tarin’s tale of how she has spent the last seven years as a slave of the Badoon, vicious aliens who conquered the solar system, wiping out most of the human race in the process. The few humans who survive in slavery remember Captain America, she reveals, as a symbol of liberty and hope. In fact, the leaders of the resistance movement, known as “the Guardians of the Galaxy,” have even named their spaceship after him. Obviously feeling personally invested in Tarin’s plight, Cap asks to accompany her back to the future. Ben and Sharon eagerly volunteer as well. Uncertain of the dangers involved, Reed offers them 24 hours in the future for a scouting mission. After briefing them on the time machine’s operation, Reed sends the Thing, Cap, Sharon, and Tarin to the New York City of the 31st century. Unfortunately, the three time-travelers are almost immediately captured by an armed patrol of zombie-like police—humans altered by the Badoon so they can neither feel pain nor be knocked unconscious—and a semi-armored creature known as the Monster of Badoon. Tarin manages to escape in the chaos, but the others are dragged before the alien leader, Sovereign Drang, and his sadistic aide, Inquisitor Ebor. The Thing soon rescues Cap from a painful mind-probe, and with help from Sharon, they fight their way out of the palace and lose themselves in the darkened streets.
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After several perilous hours, the trio finally makes contact with the Guardians of the Galaxy when Vance Astro, Charlie-27, Martinex, and Yondu rescue them from a Badoon patrol. Ben is interested in Astro’s tale of his own years spent in suspended animation, having left Earth in the late 1980s bound for Alpha Centauri aboard a sleeper ship. When he finally arrived a millennium later, Astro found himself a “man out of time,” much like Captain America, as technological advances had allowed later human colonists to get there ahead of him. Given all that, Ben is not surprised to learn that it was Astro who named the Guardians’ spaceship the <i>Captain America</i>, to honor his boyhood hero. They soon rendezvous with Tarin and the rest of the human resistance movement, whereupon they stage a daring raid on the imperial palace and manage to capture Sovereign Drang despite sustaining heavy losses. Drang remains defiant, pointing out that the Badoon have conquered the entire solar system, so one rebel victory is inconsequential. The Thing and Captain America insist that the human war for independence is just beginning, a sentiment echoed by the Guardians of the Galaxy. A few hours later, the time machine’s glowing platform reappears and the Thing, Cap, and Sharon wish their new allies good luck before returning to the present day. Back in the Baxter Building, Ben complains that humanity will be nearly wiped out by lizard people in a little over a thousand years, but Reed assures him that that scenario is just one of many possible futures.
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<b>June 1967 –</b> The Fantastic Four are saddened by the announcement that Captain America has retired. Ben insists that Cap didn’t seem quite like himself during their trip to the 31st century. Reed wonders if Cap was disillusioned by the bitterness and cynicism of the administration of former U.S. president Morris N. Richardson, whose death was reported recently. Johnny then teams up with Thor to stop the Lava Men from causing every volcano on earth to erupt simultaneously using the Mole Man’s laser-cannon, which Reed thought he had destroyed last October. However, the Mole Man’s Subterranean servants had dutifully repaired the weapon, only to have the Lava Men wrest it from them. Luckily, Thor had a friend among the Lava Men, Molto, who sacrificed his life to warn him what their witch-doctor Jinku was planning. Johnny boasts about how he and the thunder god saved a village at the foot of Mauna Loa in Hawaii from being inundated with lava and then led the Subterraneans in a pitched battle against the Lava Men, estimating there may have been as many as half-a-million combatants. With the Human Torch and Thor against them, he brags, the Lava Men soon surrendered.
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Reed, Sue, Ben, Johnny, and Medusa fly the Fantasti-Car to the Great Refuge of the Inhumans, accompanied by Agatha Harkness and the comatose Franklin, to attend the wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver. Upon arrival, they are welcomed by Black Bolt, Gorgon, Karnak, Triton, and Crystal, though Quicksilver is, as usual, conspicuously absent. Reed introduces them to Agatha, who has come along to take care of Franklin so Sue can relax and enjoy the festivities. The Fantastic Four are then escorted to sumptuous guest quarters and treated to a delicious breakfast. Several hours later, they are joined by Thor, Iron Man, the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, the Swordsman, and Mantis. Gorgon is annoyed that Lockjaw had to teleport him to New York to fetch the Avengers, since Quicksilver apparently neglected to send them their invitations, and that the Avengers then insisted on flying halfway around the world in one of their Quinjets. When Mantis asks about the inert Omega android standing in the center of the city, Medusa explains how Black Bolt’s brother, Maximus the Mad, created it in order to weaponize the Inhumans’ prejudice against their servant class, the Alpha Primitives. After being deactivated, the android was left in a public square as a memorial. Triton insists that Black Bolt has instituted many reforms since that fateful day.
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A few hours later, a royal banquet is held in a large stadium, but Quicksilver has insisted that he is too busy with wedding preparations to attend. To cheer up Crystal and entertain the crowds, the Thing, the Human Torch, Medusa, Thor, and Iron Man put on an impromptu exhibition of their superhuman powers. However, Medusa and Iron Man fall under some form of mind control and attack the section of the stands where the Alpha Primitives are seated. The pair is quickly subdued and then lapses into unconsciousness. The Alpha Primitives start yelling accusations at Black Bolt, only to be shouted down by the Inhumans around them. Reed realizes the situation in the Great Refuge is less rosy than the royal family made it seem. Later, he meets with Thor and Black Bolt to discuss the situation, with Triton interpreting for his silent king. Meanwhile, Johnny is hanging out in a plaza where he can hear Quicksilver arguing with his sister, the Scarlet Witch. When Crystal passes by looking glum, Johnny musters his courage and strikes up a conversation. Ignoring the knots in his stomach, he tells her that he wishes her all the best, and though he’ll never forget the romance they once had, he’s happy that she’s happy. Then, feeling like an inarticulate fool, Johnny flames on and flies off. He is shocked when, minutes later, the Swordsman and Mantis raise the alarm—Omega has come to life and kidnapped Crystal.
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Mister Fantastic, Thor, Black Bolt, and Triton rejoin the others and see that Quicksilver has finally deigned to make an appearance now that his bride is in danger, Through Triton, Black Bolt suggests that the Avengers, being impartial observers, may have better luck questioning the Alpha Primitives about Omega’s reactivation. Thor concurs, so Quicksilver leads his former teammates into the caverns where the Alpha Primitives live. Black Bolt then takes Reed, Sue, Ben, Johnny, Karnak, and Triton to the cell where Maximus is being held. They are surprised to find him in a coma as well, just like Medusa and Iron Man. They carry Maximus back to the city on a stretcher, where they come upon the Avengers retreating from the Alpha Primitives’ caverns and see that both Quicksilver and Mantis have lapsed into comas as well. As a rampaging mob of Alpha Primitives comes storming out behind the Avengers, Maximus suddenly leaps up, grabs a blaster, and opens fire on them. In the ensuing melee, the Human Torch, Gorgon, Karnak, Triton, Maximus, and the Swordsman abruptly fall unconscious like the others. Finally, Omega strides across the plaza to the remaining heroes and reveals himself to be Ultron-7 in disguise.
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The murderous robot explains that Maximus brought the severed head of Ultron-6 to the Great Refuge after the Vision defeated him a few years ago and eventually fused his circuits with the Omega android, giving him Omega’s psychic abilities, which he has used to incapacitate the unconscious heroes. Ultron-7 then turns those abilities against all his enemies, intent on destroying their minds. His scheme backfires, though, as his psychic energies inadvertently awaken Franklin from his coma. The boy lashes out at the source of the attack with his mysterious mutant powers, obliterating Ultron-7’s computerized brain. Omega’s body topples over then as all the heroes regain their senses. Agatha sends the groggy Franklin toddling over to his father. Ecstatic, Reed lifts his son into his arms as Sue comes running over to join them, and they embrace. Reed deduces that the discharge of psychic energy has drained off the excess mutant power that had built up in Franklin’s body over the last two years, leaving him once again an ordinary child. Ben and Johnny are simply happy to see that Franklin is back to normal after nine months in a coma.
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In the morning, Lockjaw teleports Alicia to the Great Refuge so she can attend the ceremony. As heralds fly over the city blowing their horns to summon the guests to the palace, Alicia asks Ben to describe the scene to her, but all he can think to compare it to is the Rose Bowl Parade. She luxuriates in the elaborate gown provided to her, which she is assured is the latest in Attilan fashion, but Ben gets grumpy when some attendants try to dress him in a formal cloak. Elsewhere, Reed and Sue watch the heralds wheeling in the sky and reminisce about their own wedding day four years ago and all the trouble Doctor Doom caused. As they joke around, Reed stretches his arm across the street to snatch a bouquet of flowers for his wife. Soon, as the guests start arriving at the temple, Medusa finds Johnny moping around in a corridor. He says ruefully that he now accepts that Crystal never really loved him, but Medusa insists that what they had was real; it’s just that sometimes people change. Seeing how upset Johnny is, Medusa offers to stay by his side throughout the ceremony, having come to a better understanding of human empathy. Then, in a large hall, Black Bolt escorts Crystal to the altar, where Quicksilver and the officiant are waiting. The ceremony proves to be a curious mixture of human and Inhuman customs, at the conclusion of which Black Bolt offers his royal blessing to the couple. Lockjaw then teleports the newlyweds off to their honeymoon. A huge celebration follows, and Johnny finds himself swept up in the pageantry of the day and enjoying himself despite the pain of a broken heart.
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Reed, Sue, Ben, Johnny, Medusa, Alicia, Agatha, and Franklin then head back to New York, stopping at Avengers Mansion shortly after midnight to say goodnight to their friends, whose Quinjet has accompanied them on the return journey. However, a sudden storm forms overhead, unleashing a series of deadly lightning bolts that strike the roof. While the other heroes dodge the lightning, Thor launches himself into the sky and tries to dispel the storm, without success. To the Avengers’ surprise, Agatha succeeds in dissipating the storm with a magical incantation, revealing that it was actually an attack on her. Reed assures Agatha that the Fantastic Four stand ready to help if she’s in danger. Agatha thanks him but insists they don’t owe her anything—she helped them take care of Franklin when he was a baby, but now that his mutant powers are no longer a threat, Sue is perfectly capable of raising the boy without her. And in any case, she says, it is time for her to take on a new charge—the Scarlet Witch. The Avengers are shocked, but the Scarlet Witch admits that she has long wanted to study true witchcraft and accepts Agatha as her tutor. Knowing she will be in good hands at Avengers Mansion, the Fantastic Four bid Agatha a fond farewell and fly on to the Baxter Building.
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In the days that follow, Reed conducts a series of tests on Franklin to confirm his hypothesis. He is relieved when it seems that Franklin is indeed no longer in danger from his mutant powers. Throughout, Reed and Sue focus on spending time with Franklin as they continue to rebuild their marital relationship. Meanwhile, Ben celebrates his 42nd birthday by taking Alicia out on the town for a night of dinner and dancing.
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<b>July 1967 –</b> Receiving a late-night call for help from Mrs. Coogan, an old neighbor from Yancy Street who was like a second mother to him growing up, Ben heads over to her tenement apartment. There, he meets her grandson, Duff Coogan, and his friend Nick Cromer, who are clearly shaken by a bizarre experience they had earlier on a nearby subway platform. Hearing about a harmonica-playing girl who exploded into a shower of multicolored sparks that drifted like snowflakes through the station until being absorbed into the bodies of several bystanders, Ben assumes that Coogan and Cromer are high on drugs, but out of loyalty to Mrs. Coogan, he agrees to hang around for a few hours to make sure there are no uncanny aftereffects. Telling the others to go to bed, Ben goes back down to the street, where he fumes about how Coogan and Cromer are clearly a couple of punks who make life difficult for a sweet old lady. He is further angered when he sees the Yancy Street Gang has already sprayed graffiti all over his aero-car. However, Doctor Strange then appears and corroborates Coogan’s weird tale, explaining that he witnessed it himself and is trying to track down the people from the subway platform. Suddenly, a gigantic rat scrambles up the wall of the tenement building and drags Duff Coogan out of his bedroom window. Strange frees Coogan with some magical fire, but Ben’s blows have little effect on the creature until Strange convinces Coogan to stop thinking of himself as a victim and to seize control of his own destiny. The giant rat then disintegrates, prompting the onlookers to credit the Thing with its destruction. When Strange says there is more to the matter that bears investigating, Ben decides to accompany the sorcerer back to his house in Greenwich Village.
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Arriving at the Sanctum Sanctorum, Ben is greeted by Strange’s girlfriend, Clea, and his manservant Wong. Strange is taken aback when Clea informs him that their houseguest, the Valkyrie, just left with the magical harmonica. He consults his large crystal ball, which he calls the Orb of Agamotto, and it reveals that the Valkyrie is at that moment sleeping under a tree in Cobbler’s Roost, Vermont. Ben is confused, so Strange explains that the harmonica-playing girl had appeared to him again and revealed herself to be a manifestation of destiny. The people who absorbed her sparks, such as Duff Coogan, would soon face manifestations of their own personal destinies—the giant rat was an embodiment of Coogan’s bitterness and despair, for example. Only one person remains to be contacted, a drunken derelict who had taken shelter in the subway station, but he is somehow invisible to the sorcerer’s mystic scans. As for the Valkyrie, Strange continues, she was apparently created fully-formed by the Enchantress and, having no memory of a former life, has gone to Vermont in search of the identity of the woman whose body she inhabits, a woman known only as Barbara. Seeing that Ben is more confused than he was before, Strange suggests he meet up with the Valkyrie in Vermont and try to retrieve the harmonica. Happy to have something to do, Ben sets off in his aero-car, leaving Strange to continue his search for the drunken old man.
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In upstate New York, Ben stops at a gas station to buy a map of Vermont, only to be attacked by the station attendant, who speaks in an archaic manner reminiscent of Thor. They trade punches for a minute or two, but then Ben is shot in the back with a bolt of mystic force and blacks out. When Ben comes to, the gas station has disappeared along with his assailants, but an old man has been left tied to a chair. Doctor Strange’s astral form suddenly appears and tells Ben that the hapless man is the one he’s been searching for. The gas station was an illusion, he reveals, and Ben’s attackers were none other than the Enchantress and the Executioner, notorious enemies of Thor and the Avengers. Strange advises Ben to return to New York, but when the old man asks him to take him home to Cobbler’s Roost, where his daughter Barbara may be in danger, Ben decides to do that instead. Along the way, the old man introduces himself as Alvin Denton and says his life fell apart after his wife died in a car crash and Barbara and her fiancé fell in with a group of occultists and disappeared. Arriving in Cobbler’s Roost, they soon find Barbara, but as Ben suspected, she turns out to be the Valkyrie and does not recognize the old man. Suddenly, the Executioner materializes again alongside the Enchantress, who immediately breaks the spell she had placed on Barbara. The Valkyrie persona disappears, leaving Barbara shrieking in insane terror. Denton is horrified, but the Enchantress only chuckles and says she has returned his daughter to him, thereby fulfilling his destiny. As such, the Enchantress is now free to use the magical harmonica and conjures it up. However, Denton snatches the harmonica from her and blows into it, hoping it will cure Barbara. Instead, it destroys the planet.
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Amidst the drifting rubble of Earth, Ben realizes “the end of the world” must be the manifestation of Denton’s destiny, since the old man has lost everything he ever valued. Desperate, the Enchantress changes Barbara back into the Valkyrie, hoping that will induce Denton to blow into the harmonica again. Unfortunately, Denton suffers a massive heart attack and drops the harmonica. Ben and the Executioner both lunge for the instrument and fight over it. Not wanting to get shot in the back again, Ben tells the Valkyrie to deal with the Enchantress, but she is prevented from doing so by a protective spell. The Valkyrie attacks the Executioner instead, allowing Ben to overcome the Enchantress’s magical defenses and knock her out. He then grabs the harmonica and blows into it, restoring the planet exactly as it was before. Relieved, Ben takes down the Executioner with a haymaker, freeing the Valkyrie to rush to Denton’s side. Sadly, the old man has already died of heart failure, and she mourns the loss of her only link to Barbara’s identity. Ben tries to comfort her, only to be assaulted by the Executioner again. However, the Enchantress decides that continuing to fight over the harmonica is pointless, so she teleports herself and her partner away. Ben then suggests they take Denton’s body into town, but the Valkyrie insists on doing it herself. A bit put out, Ben is ready to return to New York, but Doctor Strange’s astral form appears again and asks him to wait for him there, since the harmonica may still pose a threat. Exhausted, the grumbling Ben agrees, tucks the harmonica into his belt, and settles down under a tree for a nap. He is woken up a little while later by Strange and another superhero called Nighthawk and learns that they and the Valkyrie are members of a loose-knit team called the Defenders. Strange seems a bit touchy on the subject and suggests they focus on locating the Valkyrie, since his magic amulet has detected a sinister presence in the area.
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The amulet leads them to a grand house on the outskirts of town, where Ben and Nighthawk fall through a trap door into an underground chamber with electrified walls. While trying to escape, Ben loses the harmonica, but he and Nighthawk eventually find a hidden passageway that leads them into a large chamber full of weirdly dressed cultists, led by a high priest and a hideous old high priestess. Doctor Strange and the Valkyrie are lying unconscious on a low altar with the high priest’s two-pronged staff magically phased into their foreheads. The staff is drawing out their life-force to open a portal to another dimension, where a two-headed arch-demon is starting to cross over to Earth. Ben charges at the demon and tries to push it back into its own realm while Nighthawk brawls with the cultists. Nighthawk then warns Ben that the high priestess is about to blow into the harmonica, so he breaks away from the demon, grabs the harmonica, and crushes it in his hand. The dimensional portal immediately collapses, leaving the demon trapped on the other side, and the high priestess crumbles to ash. Yanking the staff out of his friends’ foreheads, Ben is surprised that it leaves no wound. Doctor Strange and the Valkyrie recover immediately, though they’re a bit disoriented. Strange puts the cultists and their high priest into a trance so he can deal with them later. Relieved that the crisis has passed, Ben says goodbye to the Defenders and flies his aero-car back to the Baxter Building, where he cleans off all the Yancy Street Gang’s graffiti.
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While out clothes shopping, Ben and Johnny are alarmed when they see lightning-like energy coruscating around the top floors of the Baxter Building. Johnny immediately flames on and flies over to investigate. When he arrives, he finds a brutish intruder calling himself Mahkizmo and demanding that Thundra be surrendered to him. Mahkizmo catches Johnny off guard by grabbing his flaming legs and slamming him into a wall. Calling Johnny effeminate, Mahkizmo beats on him until Ben arrives. Unexpectedly, Mahkizmo then beats Ben into submission as well, using devastating “nuclear-powered” punches. Just then, Reed returns from celebrating Sue’s 28th birthday at the Landers’ horse farm in Pennsylvania. He is so happy to have his wife and son back that he doesn’t mind that Sue and Franklin have decided to stay at the farm for a few more days. His mood becomes deadly serious, though, when he sees a hole blown in the side of the Baxter Building and detects radioactive particles on the Jet-Cycle’s sensors. Landing his vehicle on the roof, Reed stretches down and looks through the hole. Mahkizmo immediately attacks him with his “nuclear-powered” punches, again demanding that Thundra be turned over to him. Losing consciousness, Reed tumbles off the building and falls toward the street some thirty-odd stories down. Luckily, he is caught by Thundra, who is just arriving at the building with Medusa. Thundra goes to confront Mahkizmo while Reed recovers. When he and Medusa reach the scene of the battle, they learn from Ben and Johnny that Thundra and Mahkizmo had only begun to fight when they suddenly vanished in a nimbus of energy.
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Medusa then reports that she ran into Thundra following a high-level meeting at the United Nations to discuss the official status of the Inhumans in the global community. Thundra revealed to her that she comes from a future world where militaristic women, who call themselves Femizons, ruthlessly dominate men. However, her world began interphasing with an alternate timeline where men ruthlessly dominate women—Mahkizmo’s empire of Machus. After leading a successful attack on an army from Machus, Thundra was chosen to cross the dimensional boundary and defeat Mahkizmo in single combat. Something went wrong, though, and Thundra ended up stranded hundreds of years in the past. In an attempt to prevent the Machus timeline from ever coming about, Thundra decided to publicly defeat the 20th century’s most powerful man. She chose the Thing for various reasons, but their big fight a year and a half ago proved inconclusive. Since then, Thundra admitted, living among the men and women of the mid-20th century caused her to change her views. No longer believing that the Femizons represent the best future for the human race, Thundra has abandoned her mission to humiliate the Thing. Ben is glad to finally understand what Thundra’s deal is and is flattered that she considers him to be “the world’s most powerful man.” Determined to rescue Thundra, Reed starts modifying their time machine so they can travel to specific alternate futures. When Reed calls Sue to inform her of the situation, she insists on returning to the city with Franklin. Reed makes sure to tell Sue how much he appreciates her presence on the eve of such a dangerous mission.
<br /><br />
The modifications to the time machine are completed shortly after dawn the next morning. Reed asks Sue to stand by in the lab to operate the device’s remote-control panel in case something should go wrong with the portable control stand. Reed, Ben, Johnny, and Medusa then gather on the glowing platform. To the team’s surprise, the modifications to the time machine allow them to witness time passing around them at high speed. They are startled when the Baxter Building suddenly disappears a few years in the future, and then New York City is destroyed in some kind of cataclysm roughly two centuries later. Reed then directs them sideways in time, and they flash past Thundra’s native timeline to materialize in Mahkizmo’s desolate realm of Machus. Johnny flames on and flies off to scout around and soon comes upon a gang of men using bullwhips to torment some defenseless women. As the Human Torch swoops down, the men open fire on him with handguns. Mister Fantastic, the Thing, and Medusa come running up to join the fray, only for Mahkizmo to materialize in their midst. After beating up Ben with his “nuclear-powered” punches, Mahkizmo turns his fury on Reed and Johnny. When Medusa is hit in the back with a stun-blast, Ben goes berserk and tears into the gang of men. However, Mahkizmo forces Ben to surrender by threatening to kill the unconscious Reed. As Ben allows himself to be chained up, Mahkizmo mocks him for giving up over something so insignificant as the life of a friend. Later, as they approach Mahkizmo’s capital city, Reed theorizes that they are being affected by some kind of will-sapping ray that prevents them from resisting. Even so, when they come upon Thundra being savagely whipped in a public square, Ben snaps his chains and charges in to rescue her, only to be stopped cold when Mahkizmo punches him in the face. Reed, Ben, and Johnny are then locked in a “stasis cage” suspended above the ground as Medusa is led off to the palace to await Mahkizmo’s pleasure.
<br /><br />
As darkness falls a few hours later, Medusa comes running out of the palace and passes by the cage. Reed calls to her to free them, but she refuses. Insisting there’s no time to explain, Medusa flees from the city, heading back to the time machine’s control stand. Ben yells after her, calling her a traitor, and tries to break out of the cage, only to receive a nasty jolt of electricity. Having analyzed how the stasis cage functions, Reed instructs Johnny to slowly heat up the coupling that keeps it suspended, reasoning that a gradual approach may work where an aggressive action would be thwarted. Several minutes later, the metal becomes soft enough that it gives way, sending the cage crashing to the street, where it breaks open. Unfortunately, several guards appear and shoot the trio with their stun guns. When they come to, Reed, Ben, and Johnny find themselves sprawled on the floor of Mahkizmo’s throne room. Thundra is ignominiously chained up next to the throne, from which Mahkizmo gloats that the Femizons will soon provide new blood in his kingdom’s breeding stables and sculleries. He then orders all four prisoners thrown into his gladiatorial arena, where they face some hideous monsters that prove no match for their superhuman powers. Frustrated, Mahkizmo leaps into the arena to do the job himself, but Ben calls him a coward for refusing to face them without his will-sapping ray. Insulted, the tyrant tears into them with his “nuclear-powered” punches. Suddenly, an interdimensional portal opens behind Mahkizmo, and an army of Femizons charges out, led by Medusa, who is apparently immune to the effects of the will-sapping ray due to her Inhuman physiognomy. Reed deduces that the ray is emanating from a large, phallic tower in the center of the city and sends Johnny to destroy it before it affects the Femizons. Johnny flies over to the tower and releases a nova-intensity flame blast that melts it to slag. Ben is ready to give Mahkizmo a taste of his own medicine, but Thundra intervenes, unwilling to allow any man to do her fighting for her. Beset on both sides, Mahkizmo summons up his full “nuclear” power, but when Ben and Thundra strike him simultaneously, Mahkizmo’s power runs wild and causes him to explode. The release of his radioactive energy so close to the portal stabilizes the dimensional merger, leaving the men of Machus and the women of Femizonia to live together as equals. Reed, Ben, Johnny, and Medusa are surprised when Thundra accompanies them back to the 20th century. Ben admits he’s kind of glad that Thundra will be hanging around. She gives him a kiss on the cheek, saying he’s the kindest man she’s ever met. Reed does not miss the opportunity to tease his old friend about it.
<br /><br />
A few days later, Reed, Ben, and Johnny are flying over the city in the Fantasti-Car when they are attacked by a figure in a green “mystery man” costume. They recognize the costume as the same one Reed wore over four years ago when he engaged Ben and Johnny in mock battle. This time, the mystery man appears to be in earnest, bringing a weird “multi-gun” to bear against them, which produces a variety of different effects and causes the Fantasti-Car to crash to the street. After some back-and-forth, Johnny melts the multi-gun to slag and Reed captures the mystery man. Unmasked, the mystery man proves to be S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, who wanted to test some of the new ordnance created after Tony Stark stopped providing weapons to his agency. Disappointed, Fury admits the designs need more work. Reed, Ben, and Johnny are annoyed, but Fury merely teleports away after promising to pay for the damage to their vehicle. Not long after, the Fantastic Four are baffled by a midsummer snowstorm in New York. Reports of bizarre weather phenomena come in from around the globe, but the cause remains unknown.
<br /><br />
The Fantastic Four wake up one morning to discover that everyone in Manhattan has been in a coma for the last 48 hours. Exiting the Baxter Building, they find the streets descending into chaos as people try to deal with the after-effects. The cause is soon revealed to be an alien horseman on a nearby rooftop, calling himself “Pestilence.” He explains that he and his three compatriots had conquered Earth long before the rise of humanity, due to its strategic location relative to their star empire. However, a more powerful race eventually overcame them, and they were forced to retreat to their home planet. There, they were branded cowards and sentenced to permanent exile. Having wandered the galaxy for countless eons, the quartet has returned to Earth to conquer it again, thereby redeeming themselves in the eyes of their people. Having heard enough, Ben attacks Pestilence, who renders him weak and diseased with a mere gesture. Nevertheless, Ben perseveres and knocks the alien off the roof with all the strength he can muster. Pestilence vanishes into thin air, whereupon Ben quickly recovers. Back in their headquarters, the Fantastic Four decide to split up into two teams to track down “War” and “Famine” before regrouping to take on the remaining horseman.
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The Human Torch and Medusa track the “War” horseman to Africa, where they find a full-scale armed conflict raging with the world’s most advanced weaponry. Their airship is destroyed by a surface-to-air missile, but Johnny flies Medusa safely to the ground, where they are quickly taken prisoner by African soldiers. The soldiers reveal that War promised them victory over their colonial oppressors in exchange for 76 hours of total obedience. Johnny insists that War is an alien and will betray them after he’s conquered the planet, but the soldiers refuse to listen and form a firing squad. Johnny and Medusa break free and overcome the soldiers, only to have War materialize nearby, wearing a fearsome helmet and brandishing a sword that emits devastating energy blasts. Medusa is stunned by one of the blasts, enraging Johnny. He shoots streams of flame at the ground beneath War’s mount, causing the horse to throw its rider. Johnny then grabs his fallen foe, but the alien goads him into removing his helmet to look upon “the true face of war.” When he does so, Johnny is shocked to see his own face staring back at him. Curiously, Medusa sees her own face instead. War then apparently disintegrates, so the confused heroes head off to rendezvous with their teammates.
<br /><br />
Meanwhile, Mister Fantastic and the Thing locate the “Famine” horseman in Cambodia, which is suffering from the effects of the conflict in neighboring Vietnam. The alien horseman is causing villagers at the edge of a rice paddy to believe they are starving to death despite their food supply being plentiful. Reed and Ben realize that the villagers are either completely oblivious to the food around them or believe it to be spoiled and are thus growing crazed with hunger. When Famine mentions an ancient curse placed on him and his compatriots, Reed begins to develop a theory of what’s going on. He wraps Famine up in his elastic body, causing the alien to suddenly dematerialize. The two old friends then return to their vehicle and fly to Africa to pick up Johnny and Medusa for their confrontation with the final horseman—“Death.”
<br /><br />
The Fantastic Four find the “Death” horseman on Mount Everest in the Himalayas and attack him. Rather than fight back, Death conjures up skull-faced doppelgängers of the Fantastic Four to defend him. Reed warns his teammates not to battle their own counterparts, believing that would lead to mutual annihilation, like matter meeting antimatter. As such, Ben destroys the Human Torch doppelgänger with a huge snowball, Reed throws Medusa’s doppelgänger off a cliff, and Johnny buries the Mister Fantastic doppelgänger in an avalanche. Medusa is insulted when Death calls her the “weak link” in the Fantastic Four, so she picks up the Thing doppelgänger with her hair and hurls it at the surprised horseman. Colliding, both creatures disappear in a massive discharge of energy. Reed then speculates that the ancient curse mentioned by Famine was placed on the quartet by the “mightier race” that banished them from Earth eons ago, to protect the planet should they ever return. When each of the Four Horsemen were defeated, Reed believes, they were teleported back to their home planet and are unlikely to pose any further threat. Tired out, the Fantastic Four spend the night in the nearby Great Refuge of the Inhumans before heading home to New York.
<br /><br />
<b>August 1967 –</b> Reed and Sue throw a lavish party at the Baxter Building to celebrate Franklin’s third birthday. Johnny, Ben, Alicia, and Medusa also attend, as well as Carol and Bob Landers. Namorita and Annie Christopher bring Wundarr, whose intellect is now roughly on the same level as Franklin’s. Reed and Sue have continued to work on their marital issues and are in a good place; Sue takes Franklin for frequent visits to the Landers’ horse farm in Pennsylvania, giving Reed the space he needs for his laboratory research. For his part, Reed is much more engaged and attentive during the time they spend together. Johnny, Ben, and Alicia are greatly relieved that the old tensions have not returned, and Medusa is happy that Sue seems to have no interest in rejoining the team.
<br /><br />
When Manhattan is rocked by a series of unnatural earthquakes, the Fantastic Four head out to help rescue people from damaged buildings. Since the quakes seem to have two epicenters—one in Washington Heights at the north end of the island and the other in the Financial District on the island’s southern tip—Reed decides to split the team up. Thus, the Human Torch and Medusa head north, where they meet up with Thor and a new recruit to the Avengers called Moondragon. Johnny is immediately struck by Moondragon’s exotic beauty, and though she is bald as an egg, he finds her almost irresistibly attractive. Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Mister Fantastic and the Thing coordinate their efforts with Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Daredevil.
<br /><br />
At Reed’s request, Johnny flies to Detroit, Michigan to answer a call for help from Tony Stark. Knowing that Detroit is a hub for automobile manufacturing, Johnny is excited to go. When he arrives at the local Stark International facility, though, he quickly becomes annoyed with Stark’s bodyguard Iron Man, who treats him like a kid. Stark then informs Johnny of a series of suspicious technology-related deaths over the past few weeks that the media has dubbed “the techno-murders.” The prime suspect is a costumed saboteur calling himself Infinitus, who, during a fight with Iron Man yesterday, claimed to be the reincarnation of Pharoah Amenemhet III of Egypt’s 11th dynasty, out to destroy his ancient enemies. Suddenly, Infinitus strikes again, nearly killing Stark and an engineer named Rodgers by blowing up the office. Johnny saves the two men and goes after Infinitus, but the villain incapacitates him with his heat ray and escapes. When Iron Man arrives on the scene, his patronizing attitude drives Johnny to hunt down and capture their foe on his own. After visiting a local psychotherapist to learn more about delusions and identity crises, Johnny heads over to the Detroit Public Library, where he spends many hours poring over books on Egyptology. He starts to regret having dropped out of college since he is so unaccustomed to intense study, but once he finds what he’s looking for, he returns to Stark International. There, Johnny meets with Rodgers, and they realize that Infinitus is really the engineer’s brother Michael, who is faking his mental illness—Amenemhet III was of Egypt’s 12th dynasty, Johnny has discovered, rather than the 11th, not the sort of mistake either the real pharaoh or a true delusional would likely make. They track Infinitus to a nondescript building on the outskirts of Detroit’s factory district, where Johnny saves Iron Man from the villain’s heat ray. The two superheroes then team up to defeat Infinitus and unmask him, confirming that he is indeed Michael Rodgers. Iron Man is surprised, so Johnny boasts of how he figured out the entire scheme. Feeling pretty smug, Johnny flies home, leaving Iron Man to hand Infinitus over to the authorities.
<br /><br />
Ben gets upset when he sees a TV news report about the capture of the Man-Thing in the Florida Everglades, remembering his encounter with the swamp creature last summer. He knows that the Man-Thing is not just some mindless monster but is, on some level, a human being. He tries to talk to Reed about it, but Reed is rushing out to a meeting of the trustees of the American Museum of Natural History to discuss the situation. At the museum, Reed is given the opportunity to observe the Man-Thing in the artificial environment created for it by Stark International. He is fascinated by the relatively humanoid creature, which appears to be composed entirely of vegetable matter and to possess minimal intellectual capacity. He then joins Tony Stark and the other board members in a conference room, where they meet Dr. Dane Gavin, the scientist who captured the monster. They are also introduced to the woman who financed the operation, Vivian Schist, and her daughter, Carolyn Schist. Several of the board members are eager to put the Man-Thing on public display, seeing it as a huge windfall for the museum. Gavin is opposed to the idea but has no scientific evidence to back up his misgivings. Thus, the board votes to set up a special exhibit, to open in one week. Reed joins Stark in assuring Gavin that they will personally supervise the preparations.
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A week later, the museum hosts a formal opening for a select crowd of its most generous patrons. Reed attends in his tuxedo, as does Tony Stark. After some initial remarks from the chairman of the board, the heavy velvet curtains part, revealing the Man-Thing to the audience. The creature seems stunned as a wave of shock and fear washes over the crowd, then it suddenly goes berserk and smashes through the transparent wall of its enclosure. In a panic, the guests bolt for the exits, which seems to agitate the Man-Thing even more. Shoving Stark out of the way, Reed tries to restrain the creature using his elastic arm as a lasso, but it merely oozes out of his grip and shambles off through the museum. Armed guards have no better luck stopping the Man-Thing, but Reed is kept busy dealing with the panicking crowd. After wreaking havoc in the dinosaur exhibit, the Man-Thing escapes into the streets, where it makes it all the way to Columbus Circle, shrugging off the NYPD’s attempts to capture it. When it collapses into the fountain, Gavin insists that the creature must be returned to the Everglades immediately, and Carolyn Schist concurs, overruling her revenge-seeking mother. Fearing a public-relations disaster, the board quickly reverses its decision, and Stark provides a vehicle to take the Man-Thing back to its swamp.
<br /><br />
Reed, Ben, Johnny, and Medusa are taking a stroll through Central Park when they are attacked by the Silver Surfer, who easily overcomes them with the power cosmic. Reed demands to know why the enigmatic alien has betrayed them, so the Surfer explains that, after a period spent meditating on Mount Everest, he tried again to penetrate the barrier Galactus erected around the planet to keep him exiled there. He failed, and as he plummeted back to Earth, he was drawn via tractor beam to a small village in the Balkans, where he was astonished to see posters announcing that the love of his life, Shalla Bal, was their new queen. He soon found her in an ancient castle overlooking the town, but she did not recognize him and threatened to summon her palace guard. It was then that Doctor Doom appeared, and the Surfer realized he was in Latveria. Doom revealed that Shalla Bal was now his wife, but he would release her from her marriage vows and restore her memory if the Surfer agreed to kill the Fantastic Four. Asking for their forgiveness, the Silver Surfer then blasts the quartet into unconsciousness.
<br /><br />
When Ben, Johnny, and Medusa come to, they find themselves in one of Doctor Doom’s high-tech dungeons, their powers neutralized by fiendish devices. Reed is likewise imprisoned nearby but remains in a comatose state. Doctor Doom pays them a brief visit, accompanied by the Silver Surfer and Shalla Bal, to gloat over his triumph. After they’ve left, Ben manages to free Johnny, who smashes open the plastic pod keeping Reed unconscious. Though groggy, Reed is able to free Ben and Medusa. Out in the corridor, the Fantastic Four easily overcome a dozen androids led by one of Doom’s robot doppelgängers, destroying them all. As they make their way through the shadowy corridors beneath the castle, Reed is convinced that Doom is toying with them. Indeed, they soon find themselves in another death-trap, and no sooner have they escaped than they are ambushed by a new “Doomsman” android. Clearly having been imbued with the Silver Surfer’s power, the Doomsman shrugs off the Fantastic Four’s counterattacks. Luckily, the Silver Surfer arrives and joins the fight against the Doomsman, quickly turning the tide of the battle. The wrecked Doomsman crashes through a wall into a laboratory where Doctor Doom is at work. Ben and Johnny attack the villain but are unable to penetrate his personal force field. Before the battle can escalate further, Shalla Bal runs in and demands that they all stop fighting before they destroy the castle and the priceless treasures of Latverian history and culture it contains. The Silver Surfer concurs, saying they’ve no right to endanger a nation’s archives, even if they mean little to Doom. Stung by the Surfer’s insult, Doom tells them all to get out of his sight, claiming to have lost interest in the conflict now that his Doomsman android has been destroyed.
<br /><br />
Outside the castle, the Silver Surfer explains that “Shalla Bal” is apparently just a Latverian peasant named Helena, whom Doom used to bait a trap for him in order to siphon his power into the Doomsman android. Clearly disappointed, the Surfer streaks off into the sky. Johnny asks Reed if they should take Helena back to New York with them, but Reed says she belongs in Latveria and is unlikely to face any reprisals from Doom. As the dark-haired woman walks off back to her village, the Fantastic Four set off for home. Not long after, Reed celebrates his 45th birthday by spending it with Sue and Franklin. Reed tells Sue all about their latest encounter with Doctor Doom, wondering how their foe could have known anything about the Silver Surfer’s old girlfriend in the first place, since she lives on the far-distant planet of Zenn-La.
<br /><br />
<b>September 1967 –</b> Ben and Alicia decide to catch the New York Jets’ season opener, but on their way to Shea Stadium, they are delayed when a young man stands on an elevated section of the tracks, forcing the train to stop. Impatient to get to the stadium, Ben decides to deal with the situation personally. Expecting a juvenile delinquent, Ben is surprised to find a teenager in a strange, high-tech bodysuit, glowing with a weird aura. The teen identifies himself as “Madrox” and seems confused and disoriented. When Ben tries to forcibly move the young man off the tracks, Madrox suddenly splits into two identical versions of himself. Both of them punch Ben and knock him off the tracks, revealing that they possess super-strength. Angered, Ben throws a couple of trash cans at the duo, knocking them off the tracks as well. When they hit the sidewalk, though, they multiply again. Ben then punches one of the duplicates, causing him to split into another pair. All six duplicates then punch Ben, knocking him out. When he comes to, Ben finds himself back at the Baxter Building. Reed has been tracking a series of mysterious power failures for Consolidated Edison, for which he believes Madrox is responsible. A little while later, the power fails in the Baxter Building, including Reed’s backup generators. Johnny soon finds Madrox on the roof, and they get into a fight. The mentally unstable Madrox manages to knock Johnny out before Reed, Ben, and Medusa reach the roof. As they battle, Madrox continues to duplicate himself every time he is struck, and Reed notices that the entire city of New York is now blacked out. He suspects the power is being siphoned into Madrox’s bodysuit, granting him super-strength, though he’s not sure whether his ability to create duplicates of himself comes naturally or is derived from the suit. Reed tells Ben to stop hitting the numerous Madroxes and to try to restrain them instead, but that proves to be easier said than done.
<br /><br />
Fortunately, Charles Xavier arrives on the scene via helicopter and takes charge of the situation. He explains that the young man, Jamie Madrox, is a mutant whose power manifested at birth. Years ago, he had suggested that the Madrox family relocate to a remote farm in Kansas, where Jamie could wear the high-tech bodysuit that is meant to help him control his duplicating power. However, Jamie’s parents died a few years ago, and he suspects the suit has not been properly serviced since and is now malfunctioning. When his mutant-detecting device, CEREBRO, registered that Jamie was in New York, Xavier realized something must be very wrong. Determined to shut down Madrox’s suit, the Fantastic Four move in on the army of duplicates, but they react violently. Suddenly, the Madroxes collapse and coalesce into one body, enabling Reed to accomplish his task. Reed asks Xavier if he was responsible for Madrox losing consciousness, and Xavier admits that he was, though he is evasive about the precise nature of his own mutant powers. Xavier assures the Fantastic Four that he will help Madrox recover his wits and learn to control his abilities. As they depart in the helicopter, the lights of the city start to come back on. Reed wonders what it was about the Baxter Building that drew Madrox there.
<br /><br />
Johnny celebrates his 23rd birthday with a small party organized by Sue, who is worried that her brother hasn’t tried dating anyone since he broke up with Crystal. Johnny insists that he’s fine, but Sue can tell that he’s lonely.
<br /><br />
<b>October–November 1967 –</b> The Fantastic Four enjoy a peaceful couple of months at the Baxter Building. They note that it seems to be an unusually quiet period in terms of super-villain activity, an observation with which the Avengers agree. Reed follows up with Xavier about Madrox and learns that the young man has been sent to live with Xavier’s colleague Moira MacTaggert at her Mutant Research Centre on Muir Isle, off the coast of Scotland. Reed is relieved to know that not every mutant Xavier works with necessarily becomes a member of the X-Men.
<br /><br />
<b>December 1967 –</b> For about 18 hours, the Baxter Building is completely surrounded by an impenetrable force field. Try as they might, the Fantastic Four are unable to escape. Finally, the force field vanishes as mysteriously as it appeared. They then learn that while they were trapped, Loki led an invasion force of Asgardian warriors against Washington, D.C., only to be repelled by Thor and the U.S. Army.
<br /><br />
On Christmas Eve, Sue throws a party at the Baxter Building, to which Namorita and Annie Christopher bring Wundarr, as he and Franklin really enjoy playing together. Ben is annoyed with Reed, who has set up a high-powered telescope on the roof to observe what appears to be a new star in the sky. After failing to convince Reed to come down to the party, Ben joins Alicia and the others for the lighting of the Christmas tree. Ben is surprised to see Medusa giving Johnny a kiss beneath the mistletoe and assumes she is trying out another of their “human” customs. Telling the others that Reed decorated the Christmas tree all by himself this year, Johnny activates a small transmitter Reed had given him. Immediately, the Christmas tree erupts in a gaudy fireworks display that takes everyone by surprise. Ben busts up laughing, realizing that Reed got so into designing the electronics for the display that he didn’t realize he’d gone completely overboard. Shortly afterward, Reed enters, but instead of joining the party, he heads grimly to the team’s map room. Ben follows and is surprised to see Reed poring over a detailed map of the United States. Reed reveals that most of the energy emitted by the new star seems directed at the Keewazi Indian Reservation in Oklahoma, where their old friend Wyatt Wingfoot lives. Concerned about Wyatt and his family, Ben volunteers to check it out—so long as Reed gets his butt into the Christmas party. Reed is grateful, admitting that he really does want to spend Christmas at home with Sue and Franklin. After saying goodnight to Alicia, Ben takes off in the Pogo Plane and flies out west.
<br /><br />
When he reaches the site of the Keewazi Indian Reservation, Ben is startled to find instead what appears to be a first-century settlement in Judea. Spotting what looks like a flare in the hills outside of town, Ben lands there, only to discover that the flare is actually the blazing skull of the Ghost Rider, stage name of the notorious motorcycle stunt performer Johnny Blaze. Ghost Rider claims that he can’t remove his flaming helmet and apologizes. He then reports that, in spite of appearances, the village seems to be populated entirely by American Indians, and among them is a young couple staying in the stables behind the inn with their newborn baby, who is wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. A shadowy figure calling himself “the Creator” evicted Ghost Rider from the village by summoning up a whirlwind that carried him and his motorcycle out into the desert. In light of this, Ben decides they need some way to disguise themselves if they’re going to get to the bottom of this mystery, at which point they spot three magi coming over a rise on camels. Ghost Rider rides up to the trio and surrounds them with a wall of flame, demanding their surrender. Ben is impressed, assuming Blaze must have some kind of flame-thrower rigged up beneath his leather suit. One of the magi then leads Ben and Ghost Rider into the village disguised as his companions. They approach the stables behind the inn and present gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the young couple. Suddenly, “the Creator” steps out of the shadows, enraged that his plans are being disrupted. Ben immediately recognizes him as the Miracle Man.
<br /><br />
Turning two nearby farm animals into semi-humanoid monsters to attack the Thing and Ghost Rider, the Miracle Man brags about how he overcame the ghostly Cheemuzwa Indians after listening to their insipid teachings for a year and a half and returned to Earth, where he trapped the four Cheemuzwa elders in mortal forms. He then used his powers of mind-over-matter to create the new star, the Bethlehem-like village, and even the baby messiah, reasoning that doing so would make him the equal of God. Offended, Ben breaks free of the grip of the creature restraining him and charges at the Miracle Man, only to be blasted into unconsciousness. When he comes to, Ben finds that the villain has set the entire village on fire and fled into the hills. Insisting that the flames pose no danger to him, Ghost Rider offers to get the villagers to safety while Ben pursues the Miracle Man. Ben agrees and soon finds his foe standing on a ridge, gleefully watching the inferno he created. Shrugging off a blow from the Miracle Man, Ben knocks him out with a real haymaker. Instantly, the flames are extinguished and the Indian reservation returns to normal. All but one of the Cheemuzwa elders materialize and take the Miracle Man back into their custody. Their leader, Light Horse, explains that the fourth will remain within the human infant the Miracle Man created, to provide its life-force. Ben hikes back to the Keewazi settlement, where he is met by Wyatt Wingfoot, who assures him that the baby will be made a ward of the tribe and raised as one of them. Ghost Rider says goodbye and rides off into the desert on his motorcycle. After wishing Wyatt a merry Christmas, Ben returns to the Pogo Plane and flies back to New York.
<br /><br />
A week later, on New Year’s Eve, Johnny decides to give Wyatt a call, realizing it’s been months since they’ve talked. However, no sooner has Wyatt appeared on the video-phone screen than he starts screaming and laughing maniacally, speaking in verse, and referring to himself in the third person. After Wyatt smashes his camera, filling the screen with static, the voice of his grandfather, Silent Fox, the Keewazi chief, comes over the speakers and informs Johnny that Wyatt has been possessed by a demon. Johnny vows to help and takes the Fantasti-Car to Gateway University in St. Louis, Missouri, to meet with renowned demonologist Daimon Hellstrom and his associate, Dr. Katherine Reynolds. Agreeing that Wyatt’s situation sounds like a classic case of demonic possession, Hellstrom offers to accompany Johnny to Oklahoma. He then makes an arcane gesture, conjuring up a column of flame around himself. When it dissipates, Hellstrom is dressed in a sort of costume and holding a large golden trident. Johnny is surprised and feels a little uncomfortable about the large pentagram branded on Hellstrom’s chest, having thought he was more of a run-of-the-mill exorcist. Even so, they get into the Fantasti-Car and fly out to the Keewazi Indian Reservation.
<br /><br />
When they arrive, the two men are greeted by Silent Fox and other members of the tribe. Suddenly, Wyatt crashes through the wall of a building and tries to strangle Johnny to death, now immune to his flame. Hellstrom knocks Wyatt away from Johnny, then blasts him with fire from his trident that causes Wyatt to scream in agony and collapse into unconsciousness. Johnny is confused, as he felt no heat from the flames and sees that Wyatt is not burned. Hellstrom assures Johnny that Wyatt has now been cleansed of demonic influence. However, the demonologist warns, the danger has not passed, for the whole area is infused with evil. Sure enough, the other members of the tribe fall under the sway of the evil force and close in on them. While fighting off the mob, Hellstrom suddenly goes berserk and tries to strangle Johnny but quickly comes to his senses. He tells Johnny that their enemy is a demon from Hell and can only be defeated with intense light. Thus, Johnny generates a blast of nearly blinding radiance, which causes all but one of the Indians to collapse. The remaining one screams and curses Hellstrom, identifying himself as “Dryminextes.” Hellstrom then uses his trident to exorcise the inhabiting demon. Wyatt, Silent Fox, and the other members of the tribe recover immediately and are grateful to Hellstrom for saving them. However, Hellstrom ignores them and merely walks back to the Fantasti-Car. Thoroughly creeped out by the experience, Johnny decides he’d better get the unstable Hellstrom back home as soon as possible. He says a hurried goodbye to Wyatt, then launches the Fantasti-Car into the night sky. After dropping the demonologist off in St. Louis, Johnny flies on to New York alone. He’s not sure his teammates would even believe what he’s just witnessed.
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<br />
<b>Notes:</b>
<br /><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>January 1967 –</b> The Fantastic Four’s adventures resume in <i>Fantastic Four</i> #145 and following. The meeting in Attilan regarding “Project Revival” occurs behind the scenes.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>February 1967 –</b> The Thing and the Hulk switch bodies in <i>Giant-Size Super-Stars</i> #1.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>March–April 1967 –</b> “Project Revival” proved to be the Inhumans’ scheme to get Reed and Sue back together before Crystal’s wedding. Black Bolt apparently decided that they couldn’t trust Ben and Johnny with the secret or worried that they would object to the plan, so they were kept in the dark. The sinister masked figure directing the sea monsters was actually Triton, who recruited the Sub-Mariner into the plot and had him reach out to Sue without Carol and Bob’s knowledge. The Inhumans did not foresee that talking with Namor would prompt Sue to file divorce papers, which impelled them to put their plan into action somewhat ahead of schedule. Namor destroying the Jet-Cycle and stranding Ben and Johnny in Pennsylvania bought them a few hours, as did taking Sue and Franklin to a remote Atlantean outpost. Medusa tried to cause some delays as well, although she was frustrated by the interference from the Frightful Four, since Sue and Namor were then already on their way to New York. It seems clear Medusa was trying to plant seeds of doubt in Johnny’s mind by suggesting that Namor’s behavior was out of character, presumably so the Fantastic Four would be more likely to pull their punches. Medusa and Triton were in radio contact with each other throughout, but Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny had no idea what was really going on. Thundra’s involvement in the battle on the waterfront was unexpected, but everything worked out all right in the end, to the Inhumans’ immense relief.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>May 1967 –</b> Spider-Man stops by the Baxter Building in <i>Giant-Size Spider-Man</i> #1. The story continues in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #23, where the Human Torch and Iceman battle Equinox—who does, of course, escape into the sewers. Professor X mentions obtaining unstable molecules from Mister Fantastic in <i>Giant-Size X-Men</i> #1. The Fantastic Four deal with the machinations of Tempus in <i>Giant-Size Fantastic Four</i> #2. The Thing’s “team-up” adventures then continue in <i>Marvel Two-in-One</i> #3 and following. Ben makes a brief crossover appearance in <i>Daredevil</i> #110 and is behind the scenes when Black Spectre is finally defeated two issues later.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>June 1967 –</b> The public learns of Captain America’s retirement in <i>Captain America</i> #177. The Human Torch and Thor fight the Lava Men in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #26. All concerned remain unaware that Jinku’s vision of world conquest was projected into his mind by They Who Wield Power. The Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and the Inhumans join forces against Ultron-7 in a story that crosses over into <i>Avengers</i> #127–128.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>July 1967 –</b> The Thing’s team-up with Doctor Strange, Valkyrie, and Nighthawk crosses over into <i>Defenders</i> #20–21. While traveling through time, the Fantastic Four witness the destruction of the Baxter Building, which will occur in <i>Fantastic Four</i> #278. The bizarre weather phenomena result from Dormammu imprisoning Gaea in <i>Doctor Strange</i> v.2 #8–9. The extraterrestrial Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, members of the Axi-Tun race, menace Earth in <i>Giant-Size Fantastic Four</i> #3.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>August 1967 –</b> Earthquakes strike Manhattan in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #28, courtesy of a pair of disgruntled scientists being manipulated by They Who Wield Power. The Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and Daredevil remain behind the scenes. The Human Torch and Iron Man then join forces against Infinitus in the next issue. The Man-Thing makes his New York debut in <i>Giant-Size Man-Thing</i> #2. The battle with Doctor Doom brings us up to <i>Fantastic Four</i> #157. “Helena” is actually Shalla Bal, transported to Earth by the demon Mephisto to torment the Silver Surfer and play a joke on Doom, who insists on fighting Mephisto’s champion every year—even though he always loses—in an attempt to free his mother’s soul from eternal damnation. The Fantastic Four are as yet unaware of Mephisto’s existence, though the Silver Surfer mentions him in passing.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>September 1967 –</b> Madrox the Multiple Man is introduced in <i>Giant-Size Fantastic Four</i> #4.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>December 1967 –</b> The Fantastic Four are trapped in the Baxter Building during Loki’s attempted invasion of Earth in <i>Thor</i> #232–234. The return of the Miracle Man brings us up to <i>Marvel Two-in-One</i> #8. The Human Torch then joins forces with Daimon Hellstrom, the so-called “Son of Satan,” to save Wyatt Wingfoot in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #32. Interestingly, Katherine Reynolds notes that incidents of occult phenomena seem to be up quite a bit from recent years, confirming the Ancient One’s warning to Doctor Strange in <i>Marvel Premiere</i> #4.</span>
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<i><b>Jump Back:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2018/04/omu-fantastic-four-year-six.html">The Fantastic Four – Year Six</a></i>
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<i><b>Next Issue:</b> <a href="https://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2023/12/omu-spider-man-year-six.html">Spider-Man – Year Six</a></i>
<br /><br /><br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-35847627391611276202022-10-30T10:13:00.078-05:002023-03-07T16:32:18.716-06:00OMU: Iron Man -- Year SixFor most of the sixth year of his superhero career, Tony Stark is primarily focused on growing his business, which takes a significant step toward becoming a modern multinational corporation. No longer dependent on the life-support system in his armor, Tony faces no major health crises during the next twelve months. During the latter half of the year, he maintains a low-key, long-distance relationship with his girlfriend, Roxanne Gilbert. Happy and Pepper have worked out their marital problems and are no longer a source of personal drama. It is also an unusually quiet period in terms of super-villain activity, and so <b>Iron Man</b> functions mainly as a company mascot and a part-time Avenger. In fact, only two issues of Iron Man’s solo series cover this time in the hero’s life.
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<b>Note:</b> The following timeline depicts the <b>Original Marvel Universe</b> (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2004/12/the-original-marvel-universe.html">previous posts</a> for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
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Now resuming… <b>The True History of the Invincible Iron Man!</b>
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<b>January–April 1967 –</b> Tony Stark spends much of his time at Stark Industries’ headquarters on Long Island, directing the company’s efforts in the fields of consumer goods, pollution control, and especially aerospace research, such as ongoing development of the Quantum IX Manned Orbiting Laboratory and the beleaguered <i>Star*Reach I</i> space-shuttle program. In order to reframe the company’s image in the public consciousness, Tony decides to rename it Stark International, effective at the start of the new fiscal year on the 1st of July, and prepares a huge public-relations campaign. While the transition away from weapons manufacturing has been difficult, Tony is glad to know he can rely on his executive assistant, Virginia “Pepper” Hogan, and her husband, Harold “Happy” Hogan, currently serving as the head of the company’s security division—especially since both of them know of his secret double life as a superhero. During this period, Tony suits up as Iron Man only for routine appearances at company events and for the Avengers’ regularly scheduled meetings alongside Thor, Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, the Swordsman, and Mantis.
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Tony is frustrated when the subversive organization Black Spectre continually gets away with carrying out offensive pranks and outrageous sabotage, such as inciting a race riot at the Statue of Liberty, installing a swastika atop the Washington Monument, draping Philadelphia’s Independence Hall in black shrouds, and carving Adolf Hitler’s face into Mount Rushmore. S.H.I.E.L.D., which assists the government with repairing all the damage, assures the Avengers that it’s doing all it can to stop Black Spectre.
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<b>May 1967 –</b> The Avengers receive a message from Black Spectre claiming that they have an atomic bomb hidden somewhere under Manhattan, which they threaten to detonate if the Avengers interfere with their overthrow of the U.S. government. Soon after, the terrorist group invades Washington, D.C. and storms the White House, only to be defeated by Daredevil and the Black Widow. Iron Man is relieved when the bomb threat turns out to be a hoax.
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<b>June 1967 –</b> At Avengers Mansion, Iron Man joins Thor, the Vision, the Falcon, and the team’s butler, Edwin Jarvis, in trying to talk the disillusioned Captain America out of abandoning his costumed identity. They are joined by Cap’s girlfriend, Sharon Carter, and her older sister Peggy Carter, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent-in-training. Iron Man insists that people with special advantages have a responsibility to serve the public good, but Cap argues that all his heroic deeds and charity work counted for little when the Secret Empire’s smear campaign turned the public against him. America has simply changed too much since World War II, Cap contends, and he is no longer capable of representing its conflicting agendas. Ultimately, Cap does decide to retire, leaving his costume and shield in a storage vault beneath the mansion. Though disappointed, Iron Man respects his teammate’s decision.
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Iron Man is sitting down to dinner at Avengers Mansion with Thor, the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, the Swordsman, and Mantis when the Inhumans Gorgon and Lockjaw suddenly materialize in the room. Gorgon is annoyed that the Avengers are not ready to leave for the Great Refuge to attend the wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver, but this is the first the team has heard of it. Apparently, Quicksilver neglected to invite them, much to the Scarlet Witch’s chagrin. Nevertheless, she decides that they will attend in any case. Iron Man sets up a video link to the Inhumans’ royal palace so the Whizzer, who is convalescing at the mansion after his recent heart attack and has come to believe that Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are his children, will be able to watch the ceremony. The Avengers then fly around the world to the Himalayas in a Quinjet while Gorgon and Lockjaw teleport home. When they arrive, they are greeted by the rest of the royal family—Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal, Karnak, and Triton—as well as Mister Fantastic, the Thing, the Human Torch, and Susan Richards. Mister Fantastic introduces the Avengers to Agatha Harkness, an elderly woman who helps take care of his two-year-old son, Franklin Richards, who lies in a coma. When Mantis asks about what appears to be a huge, grotesque statue in the center of the city, Medusa explains that it is actually a giant android called Omega, which Black Bolt’s brother, Maximus the Mad, created in order to weaponize the Inhumans’ prejudice against their servant class, the Alpha Primitives. After being deactivated, the android was left in a public square as a memorial. Triton insists that Black Bolt has instituted many reforms since that fateful day.
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Several hours later, Iron Man joins the others for a royal banquet in a large stadium, from which Quicksilver is conspicuously absent. To cheer up Crystal and entertain the crowds, Iron Man, Thor, the Thing, the Human Torch, and Medusa put on an impromptu exhibition of their superhuman powers. However, Iron Man and Medusa fall under some form of mind control and attack the section of the stands where the Alpha Primitives are seated. The pair is quickly subdued and then lapses into unconsciousness. When he comes to, Iron Man finds that the Omega android’s body has been commandeered by Ultron-7, who is ranting about punishing the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the Inhumans for his past humiliations. Iron Man realizes that Ultron-7 has used Omega’s psychic abilities to incapacitate not only Medusa and himself but the Swordsman, Mantis, the Human Torch, Gorgon, Karnak, Triton, Maximus, and Quicksilver as well. Ultron-7 then turns those abilities against all his enemies, intent on destroying their minds. His scheme backfires, though, as his psychic energies inadvertently awaken Franklin Richards from his coma. The boy lashes out at the source of the attack with his mysterious mutant powers, obliterating Ultron-7’s computerized brain. Iron Man and the others then look on happily as the Richards family is at last reunited.
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The next day, as heralds fly over the Great Refuge blowing their horns to summon the guests to the wedding ceremony, Iron Man realizes that neither he nor Thor are particularly eager to attend the festivities due to their own star-crossed love lives. The thunder god reminisces about his love affair with Jane Foster and complains of how circumstances always seem to be keeping him and his new paramour, the goddess Sif, apart. Iron Man admits ruefully that he lost his heart to Pepper Potts, who is now married to his best friend, and has been searching for someone to replace her ever since. Noting that not everyone can be as lucky as Quicksilver and Crystal, Iron Man suggests they head to the palace. The wedding proceeds with no further disturbances, and at the conclusion of the ceremony, Lockjaw teleports the newlyweds off to their honeymoon. A huge celebration follows, which Iron Man enjoys tremendously despite having a little too much to drink.
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The Avengers then return to New York, arriving at the mansion shortly before midnight. The Fantastic Four stop by on their way home to say goodnight. However, a sudden storm forms overhead, unleashing a series of deadly lightning bolts that strike the roof. Thor immediately launches himself into the sky and tries to dispel the storm, without success. Iron Man is startled when Agatha Harkness reveals herself to be a powerful sorceress by dissipating the storm with a magical incantation. She then informs the Fantastic Four that she will no longer be serving as Franklin’s nanny, for the time has come for her to take on a new charge—the Scarlet Witch. The Avengers are shocked, but the Scarlet Witch admits that she has long wanted to study true witchcraft and accepts Agatha as her tutor. As the Fantastic Four depart and the Avengers enter the building, Thor, as current team chairman, authorizes Agatha to take up residence there. Iron Man and Thor are then distracted when the Swordsman becomes distraught after Mantis abruptly ends their romantic relationship. Before they can resolve the situation, the Avengers are drawn outside by a commotion in the street. They find an intensely bright light shining down on the mansion from what appears to be a new star in the sky. Suddenly, their old foe, Kang the Conqueror, materializes and announces that the star is a signal indicating that the 20th century is ripe for conquest.
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Using 41st-century robots called “Macrobots,” Kang easily defeats Iron Man, Thor, the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, the Swordsman, Mantis, and Agatha Harkness and takes them prisoner. The time-traveling despot then explains that the “newborn star” heralds the appearance of the legendary Celestial Madonna, who is to mate with the most powerful man in the world and produce a child who will conquer the universe. Kang is determined to be that man and to rule the heavens through the child. Due to strange disturbances in the timestream in the late 20th century, he was unable to determine the exact date the star would manifest itself, so he left a temporal monitor behind during his first incursion four and a half years ago. And although the historical records of the 20th century that have survived to Kang’s era are fragmentary at best, the positioning of the star above Avengers Mansion suggests that the Celestial Madonna is either the Scarlet Witch, Mantis, or Agatha Harkness. In order to solve that riddle, Kang teleports his prisoners to a laboratory hidden inside an ancient Egyptian pyramid, derisively leaving the Swordsman behind. He then conducts a battery of tests on the women while Iron Man, Thor, and the Vision struggle to escape the paralysis beam that renders them helpless. Fortunately, the Swordsman is able to pull himself together and mount a rescue mission, apparently led to the pyramid by Agatha’s telepathy. Kang dismisses the threat of the Swordsman, though, revealing that he designed the pyramid himself while ruling Egypt as the pharaoh Rama-Tut and left a vampire named Amenhotep behind to guard it. Upon entering, the Swordsman inadvertently releases the vampire, though it soon stumbles out into the sunlight and is disintegrated. Unconcerned, Kang seals Iron Man, Thor, and the Vision inside Macrobot exoskeletons, revealing his plan to send them out to kill key government personnel in the United States, the Soviet Union, and the People’s Republic of China, after which a strategically placed neutron bomb will set off a global nuclear war. With that, Kang loads all his captives into his time-capsule and flies to the United Nations building in New York City.
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With the time-capsule rendered invisible by a cloaking device, Kang dispatches the Macrobot containing the Vision, only to watch him be defeated by the Swordsman, who has been joined by Hawkeye and a mysterious stranger. Deciding to cut his losses, Kang pilots the time-capsule to Peking, China, where he sends out the Macrobot containing Iron Man. Again, his scheme is foiled by the Swordsman, Hawkeye, and their unknown companion, now joined by the Vision. Iron Man is set free but finds that his armor’s energy levels are dangerously low. Rather than go on to Moscow, Kang sends the Macrobot containing Thor out to recapture Iron Man and the Vision. As the cloaking device is deactivated, Vision is able to phase inside and free the Scarlet Witch, Mantis, and Agatha. The two younger women immediately join the battle, though they bicker constantly. The Avengers manage to immobilize the Macrobot long enough for the mystery man to open it up, releasing Thor, though the thunder god took quite a beating during the fight. The enigmatic stranger then confronts Kang, who reveals him to be his own future self, living once again as Pharaoh Rama-Tut. As the two men start fighting each other, a strange wave of hallucinatory images wash over the Avengers—dreamlike images of the past, present, and future. Suddenly, Kang realizes that Mantis is the Celestial Madonna and announces that if he can’t have her, no one will. He fires his ray gun at Mantis, but the Swordsman leaps in front of her and is mortally wounded. Rama-Tut tackles Kang, and as they struggle, they inadvertently activate the time-capsule, which dematerializes. The Avengers are shocked and horrified by this sudden turn of events. The Swordsman dies in Mantis’s arms, cursing himself as a failure. The sorrowful Avengers honor their fallen teammate, then take his body back to New York. When they arrive at the mansion, Jarvis informs them that the Whizzer has moved on, showing them a morose farewell note he left behind. The Scarlet Witch is very upset by it. Thor encourages everyone to get some much-needed rest.
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On the last day of the month, Tony holds a vast company picnic to celebrate the name change to Stark International and gives a speech outlining the company’s global priorities, which is broadcast to every branch office, laboratory, and factory around the world. He then appears as Iron Man to entertain the crowd with feats of strength and to encourage charitable donations to the various foundations for which he serves as spokesman. At the end of the day, Tony considers the event to have been a tremendous success and is glad to see that it’s garnered the company some good publicity.
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<b>July 1967 –</b> The next day, Tony jets out to San Diego to deal with an emergency at his branch office there, only to discover that a solution was found while he was en route. Left at loose ends, Tony decides to check out a comic book convention being held at the El Cortez Hotel. Since the convention features a costume contest, Tony decides to attend as Iron Man so he can blend into the crowd. When he arrives, a group of <i>Star Trek</i> fans try to get him to sign a petition to prevent the show’s cancellation, and a security guard admonishes him for getting too close to a display of the ultra-rare first issue of <i>Purple Pig Comics</i> from 1939. He notes with some concern that a fan is complaining about the boring stories in Marvel’s officially licensed <i>Iron Man</i> comic book and the stupid-looking nose on the hero’s faceplate. These sentiments are echoed by another fan named Kenny Lupoff, who is wearing a homemade mockup of Iron Man’s armor. Though he tries to defend his new look, Iron Man realizes his current helmet design is more controversial than he thought. Suddenly, the Melter, Whiplash, and the Man-Bull appear in the crowd and are directed to attack Iron Man by the Black Lama, who is attempting to recruit the evil trio into his war of the super-villains. The ensuing melee disrupts the convention, but Iron Man ultimately triumphs over his foes, with a little help from Kenny Lupoff. Defeated, the Black Lama teleports away, but the other three villains are taken into custody by the police. With the real Iron Man’s presence revealed, the convention organizers convince the hero to stick around as the day’s guest of honor. Several hours later, an exhausted Iron Man departs. He returns to New York the following morning.
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At the next Avengers meeting, Thor agrees to serve another term as chairman and Hawkeye continues to hang around, though he won’t commit to formally rejoining the team. He’s not shy, though, about claiming credit for convincing Steve Rogers to adopt a new costumed identity. Mantis requests permission to take the Swordsman’s body to Vietnam for burial, since she has decided to return home rather than remain with the Avengers. Thor grants her request, offering to have the team accompany her and try to unravel some of the secrets of her past. Mantis is touched by such generosity. The Scarlet Witch begs off, saying that Agatha Harkness is insistent that she continue her education in witchcraft without delay. Vision is also reluctant to go, concerned that he has had panic attacks in the heat of battle a few times now, but Iron Man and Thor assure him that they will look out for him. Hawkeye agrees to go along, so the five heroes are soon aboard a Quinjet on its way to South Vietnam.
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After spending a night in Saigon, the Avengers fly their Quinjet to the abandoned temple of the Priests of Pama, where they battled the Star-Stalker several month ago. There, they conduct a simple funeral for the Swordsman and bury him in a shady spot in the garden. Afterwards, they are drawn into a confrontation with the Crimson Dynamo, the Titanium Man, and the Radioactive Man, who are chasing a terrified local man. The trio claims that they are considered heroes in that region and were punishing the man for beating his wife. Iron Man loses his temper and charges at his foes, intent on avenging the death of Janice Cord, but Thor forces him to stand down, citing jurisdictional issues. Seething, Iron Man accompanies the Avengers back to Saigon, where they broadcast a worldwide appeal for Captain Marvel or Rick Jones to contact them, since, like the Priests of Pama, Captain Marvel is of Kree origin and might be able to shed some light on the situation. When no answer is immediately forthcoming, they decide to check out some of the places Mantis remembers from her childhood. However, her memories turn out to be at odds with the facts, leading Mantis to start questioning her sanity.
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Another day of investigating leads the Avengers to Saigon’s warehouse district, where Mantis remembers working in seedy bars and brothels. But again, no one there recognizes her. Suddenly, they are set upon by the Crimson Dynamo, the Titanium Man, and the Radioactive Man, accompanied this time by an armored Vietnamese man calling himself the Slasher. Iron Man is relieved that Thor refuses to back down this time, given that they are now in Saigon, and immediately starts fighting the Crimson Dynamo while his teammates deal with the others. Strangely, the Crimson Dynamo seems to have trouble staying on his feet. In the course of the battle, it is revealed that the Slasher recruited his associates by claiming to be a Viet Cong sympathizer whom the Americans were harassing, but when he drops his bag of stolen diamonds, the Titanium Man realizes they were duped by a petty criminal and calls an end to the fighting. The communist supermen withdraw, leaving the Avengers to turn the Slasher and the stolen diamonds over to the local authorities.
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The following day, the Avengers meet up with Steve Rogers in his new identity as Nomad. He reports that he’s just wrapped up his first case, for the most part—he’s just waiting for the last two members of the Serpent Squad to turn up somewhere so he can apprehend them. After a battle with the villains on a Roxxon oil rig in the Pacific Ocean, he and the Sub-Mariner were pursuing Warlord Krang when he heard the Avengers were in Saigon and decided to pay them a visit. Nomad is surprised to hear of how the Swordsman sacrificed his life to save Mantis, given his criminal past. Iron Man and Thor both find their friend’s new black-and-gold costume to be somewhat off-putting but are glad that he seems to have put the Secret Empire scandal behind him. Vision then draws Iron Man aside and asks for advice dealing with women. As the synthezoid describes his love triangle with the Scarlet Witch and Mantis, Iron Man becomes increasingly uncomfortable and finds himself at a loss for words. Realizing his faux pas, Vision apologizes and drops the subject, to Iron Man’s great relief. A few minutes later, Jarvis radios the team to report that there’s been no word from Captain Marvel but news outlets are reporting that the fugitive Serpent Squad members have been spotted in Los Angeles. With that, Nomad bounds off, promising to keep the Avengers posted on how his mission turns out.
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A moment later, without warning, Iron Man finds himself teleported to a series of stone catacombs in the timeless dimension of Limbo, where he is taunted by the echoing voice of Kang the Conqueror. After what seems like several hours of aimless wandering through an unending labyrinth, Iron Man finally stumbles upon Hawkeye. Suddenly, they are ambushed by Kang and his undead minions—Baron Heinrich Zemo, Wonder Man, and the long-lost original Human Torch. When his repulsor rays barely slow Wonder Man down, Iron Man tells Hawkeye to go find the rest of the Avengers so they can mount a last stand together. Though reluctant to abandon his comrade, Hawkeye complies. Kang then hits Iron Man with an energy blast, stunning him long enough for the Human Torch to grab him from behind. The Torch generates so much heat that Iron Man fears his armor’s internal systems will melt, and a moment later, he passes out. Iron Man then comes to and finds himself in what appears to be the throne room of an enormous castle, alongside Thor, Hawkeye, Mantis, and Vision, whose left arm is badly damaged. Rama-Tut is also there, talking with a similar-looking man called “Immortus.” Iron Man soon realizes that, while he was unconscious, Kang was driven off.
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After restoring the Vision’s arm, Immortus dispatches Kang’s so-called Legion of the Unliving—Baron Zemo, Wonder Man, Midnight, the Frankenstein Monster, and the Ghost of the Flying Dutchman—back to oblivion. The original Human Torch, however, is permitted to remain, and Iron Man is astonished to learn that he and the Vision are now claiming to be the same android. Rama-Tut thanks the Avengers for their help preventing Kang from causing chaos while chasing after the Celestial Madonna, then teleports himself away. Immortus then offers to facilitate the Human Torch and the Vision’s quest to learn the secrets of their past, saying he is sympathetic to their plight because, as the Avengers may have guessed, he is the same man who was once Rama-Tut and Kang. He assumed the name Immortus, he explains, after taking over the dimension of Limbo, where time is not linear. Furthermore, he offers to enable the rest of the Avengers to uncover the ancient secrets of the Celestial Madonna and how that legend has shaped Mantis’s life. Thus, he hands what he terms a “synchro-staff” to both the Human Torch and the Vision and sends them off into the timestream, explaining that, because their secrets are of recent vintage and still able to affect the course of present events, they must go on their journeys through time alone. Immortus hands another synchro-staff to Thor, saying that it’s fine for the others to accompany Mantis since their quest will lead them into the distant past. The enigmatic master of time then activates his machines again, sending Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, and Mantis into the psychedelic lightshow of the time-vortex.
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The four Avengers soon find themselves flashing phantom-like through vast expanses of space and time while the synchro-staff telepathically narrates the events they are witnessing. First, they see the earliest events in the recorded history of the Kree race, when a delegation of Skrulls arrived on the planet Hala and proposed a contest between the Kree and sentient, telepathic plant-creatures called the Cotati to determine which would serve as the planet’s official representatives in subsequent trade negotiations. A Kree tribe was transported to Earth’s moon through a naturally occurring space warp at the edge of the solar system and there built the city within what the Fantastic Four have dubbed the Blue Area of the Moon. However, when the Skrulls chose the Cotati based on the garden they created, the tribal leader of the Kree, a barbarian named Morag, led his warriors to attack the aliens and slaughtered them. The Kree then plundered the technology of the Skrull spaceship, built a fleet of their own, and soon started the Kree-Skrull War, which has raged off and on for millions of years. Then, several centuries later, the Avengers see how pacifist Kree monks known as the Priests of Pama, who had developed their psychic abilities alongside a unique form of martial arts, entered into an alliance with the surviving Cotati. When the leader of the Kree Empire, the Supreme Intelligence, exiled the pacifists to a remote prison planet, the Cotati telepathically lured the Star-Stalker there. Using their martial-arts skill, the monks drove off the Star-Stalker, then warned the Supreme Intelligence of the threat it represented to Hala. Ultimately, the Supreme Intelligence agreed to the monks’ proposal to spread out across the galaxies in small groups to stand as sentries on all known inhabited worlds. The Priests of Pama then smuggled the Cotati to these remote outposts, where the plant-creatures could live in peace within their temples. One such temple was built on Earth, in the region now known as Vietnam. Iron Man notes to himself that this accords with what the Star-Stalker told them last year. Mantis realizes with a start that the Cotati garden is where they buried the Swordsman. Suddenly, the four Avengers find themselves materializing in that very garden, where they are met by Mantis’s father, the international criminal mastermind known as Libra, and the Swordsman, seemingly alive and surrounded by a greenish glow. A small spacecraft lands nearby and Moondragon disembarks. Iron Man, Thor, and Mantis remember meeting her last December and know her to be a friend of Captain Marvel.
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The Swordsman prompts Moondragon to tell the Avengers of her origins, and the heroes are struck by the many parallels between her tale and what they’ve learned of Mantis’s youth. Then, Immortus emerges from a portal to the time-vortex, bringing along a large crate, and leads everyone inside the temple’s main building. Telling the Swordsman to carry on, Immortus disappears into the time-vortex again to search for the Vision. The Swordsman and Libra then explain that both Mantis and Moondragon were chosen as potential candidates for the Celestial Madonna and, when circumstances permitted, were taken to remote monasteries to be raised by the descendants of the Kree pacifists. The ultimate goal of the girls’ training was to enable them to communicate with the Cotati—the first non-Kree ever to do so. This formed the basis of Moondragon’s mental powers and Mantis’s empathic nature. After several years, while Moondragon continued on in the life of a priestess, Mantis was given a set of false memories of a childhood on the streets of Saigon and sent out into the world, where she experienced all the mysteries of humanity. As a result, Mantis was finally chosen to be the Celestial Madonna. Moondragon, it is explained, lacked a certain rapport with ordinary people—a conclusion the Priestess of Titan finds insulting.
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Iron Man and Thor are then summoned outside by Hawkeye, who has discovered the Crimson Dynamo, the Titanium Man, and the Radioactive Man lying in the dirt, badly beaten. Iron Man is alarmed by the amount of damage his foes’ armor has sustained. The Crimson Dynamo comes to and reveals that they were searching for the Avengers after their abrupt disappearance when they were ambushed by Kang the Conqueror. Realizing that Kang must be making another attempt to kidnap the Celestial Madonna, Thor wonders when the villain will learn his lesson and accept defeat. The three Avengers decide to split up and search the area. Flying around high above the jungle canopy, Iron Man soon spots Kang in a clearing below and attacks him. Though he puts up a decent fight, Kang proves to be no match for the Golden Avenger and is beaten into unconsciousness. When the three Avengers then discover that each of them has captured a time-displaced version of Kang, they realize the fights were a delaying tactic and race back to the temple. When they arrive, Thor barely has time to call out a warning before Kang’s time-capsule materializes. Using his force fields, Kang is able to kidnap Mantis and escape, and his three doppelgängers slip away in the confusion. The thunder god is ready to pursue the villain to the furthest reaches of time and space, but Immortus appears and tells him to stand down. Having brought the Vision, the Scarlet Witch, and Agatha Harkness with him, Immortus finally opens the large crate, revealing Mantis inside, safe and sound. Laughing at his own cleverness, Immortus explains that Kang has actually kidnapped the Space Phantom, the sole subject of his kingdom of Limbo, who used his powers to trade places with Mantis.
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Mantis then reveals the true destiny of the Celestial Madonna: to enter into a marital union with a member of the Cotati and produce a new lifeform—a hybrid of plant and animal who enjoys the best of both worlds. The Swordsman’s body has actually been reanimated by the eldest Cotati on Earth, who arrived with the Priests of Pama nearly 20,000 years ago, and Mantis has agreed to marry him. The Vision and the Scarlet Witch announce that it had better be a double-wedding because they’ve decided to get married too. Immortus is pleased and volunteers to officiate. Thor, as Avengers chairman, makes a motion that the team officially induct Mantis as a full member, to honor her and their time together. The other Avengers agree, and Mantis is truly touched. They all adjourn to the garden, where Immortus conducts a brief ceremony to unite the Scarlet Witch & the Vision and Mantis & the Swordsman/Elder Cotati in matrimony. Afterwards, Mantis and her husband transform into pure energy and ascend into the sky. The Vision and the Scarlet Witch decide on a more traditional honeymoon in French Polynesia. Moondragon flies the Avengers to Saigon to pick up their Quinjet, and the Vision and the Scarlet Witch part company with them there. Iron Man and Thor then fly Agatha back to New York in the Quinjet while Moondragon gives Hawkeye a lift in her spaceship. En route, they all discuss their strange experience over the ship-to-ship communicator. Upon arrival, the Avengers inform Jarvis of everything that’s happened. Moondragon decides that she will stay with the team for a while, so Jarvis prepares a room for her. Iron Man says goodbye and flies off to the Stark International complex on Long Island. The next day, Agatha Harkness and her cat head home, telling the Avengers that the Scarlet Witch has made a good start on her magical training.
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Tony decides to head back to Vietnam to try again to discover what happened to Roxanne Gilbert, who disappeared there late last year while searching for Eddie March’s missing brother. While flying over the jungle, Iron Man briefly picks up the signal from the electronic tracking device he had given Roxanne but is distracted when heat-seeking anti-aircraft missiles are launched at him. Iron Man is horrified to realize they are Stark weapons that have clearly fallen into the wrong hands. He manages to outmaneuver the missiles, sending them crashing into the side of a mountain. However, the explosion causes an avalanche that reveals the mountain to be hollow with a futuristic city concealed inside. Flying down to investigate, Iron Man is met by the Crimson Dynamo. The Golden Avenger ridicules his foe about their previous encounter and the humiliating defeat Kang handed him, but the Russian refuses to take the bait. However, the Crimson Dynamo manages to get under Iron Man’s skin by pointing out that Tony Stark is considered a murderous war criminal in that part of the world for designing the weapons that have killed so many soldiers and civilians alike. During the ensuing battle, Iron Man realizes that the Crimson Dynamo has incorporated pirated Stark technology into his own armor, making him more dangerous than ever. The fight carries them down into the hidden city, where the Crimson Dynamo grabs a bazooka-like weapon that Iron Man recognizes as one of his own designs—perhaps the worst weapon he ever made, as it fires small fragmentation grenades filled with napalm. His attempt to stop the Crimson Dynamo with a repulsor ray backfires, causing the Russian to fire wildly and set the buildings around him ablaze. The fire spreads quickly, and while Iron Man is busy rescuing people from the collapsing buildings, the Crimson Dynamo flees the scene. Despite his best efforts, Iron Man is not able to save everyone, and he castigates himself for ever creating such weapons of mass destruction in the first place. He also vows to make the Crimson Dynamo pay for his crimes.
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When the evacuation is complete, Roxanne’s tracking device leads Iron Man straight to her in the jungle just outside the city, where he finds her with Marty March and his Vietnamese girlfriend. Iron Man tells Marty that his brother Eddie has been worried sick about him, but Marty decides there’s nothing for him back in the United States and he’d rather make a new life for himself there in Vietnam. Since Marty lost his right arm in combat, Iron Man knows his tour of duty is over and respects his determination to move forward in a positive direction. He is concerned, though, that Marty and Roxanne were held prisoner in the hidden city for several months, but Marty insists that that’s all over now and he doesn’t want to talk about it. Roxanne follows Marty’s lead, so Iron Man escorts her back to Saigon and puts her on a plane bound for Detroit, Michigan.
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Back in New York, Tony is contacted by Dr. Dane Gavin of the American Museum of Natural History for help devising a means to capture the mysterious swamp monster of the Florida Everglades known as the “Man-Thing.” Tony agrees to give the matter his personal attention, since he sits on the museum’s board of trustees and finds the matter intriguing.
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Not long after, the Avengers are baffled by a midsummer snowstorm in New York City. Reports of bizarre weather phenomena come in from across the globe, but the cause remains a mystery. Later, Tony is shocked to wake up and discover that everyone in the city has been unconscious for two days. Reports of strange occurrences start coming in from around the world, but then the Fantastic Four notify the Avengers that it was all part of an alien invasion plot that they have foiled.
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<b>August 1967 –</b> Iron Man and Moondragon get reacquainted as she settles into life at Avengers Mansion. Hawkeye seems to find her irresistibly attractive, though she clearly considers him to be crude and obnoxious. She obviously finds Thor fascinating, though, which makes Iron Man uncharacteristically jealous. When Manhattan is rocked by a series of unnatural earthquakes, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, and Moondragon rush out to help rescue people from damaged buildings. Since the earthquakes seem to have two epicenters—one in Washington Heights at the north end of the island and the other in the Financial District on the island’s southern tip—the thunder god decides to split the team up. While he and Moondragon head to the north, he sends Iron Man and Hawkeye to the south. There, they receive some help from Mister Fantastic, the Thing, and Daredevil.
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While in Detroit visiting Roxanne, Tony checks in on the local Stark International facility, which is a hub for their aerospace division. During the tour, he has to change into Iron Man to deal with a costumed saboteur who calls himself “Infinitus” and claims to be the reincarnation of Pharaoh Amenemhet III of Egypt’s 11th dynasty, out to destroy his ancient enemies. The ray gun he carries fires blasts of heat capable of damaging the Golden Avenger’s armor, which enables the villain to escape capture. Further investigation suggests that Infinitus is tied to a series of suspicious deaths in Detroit over the last few weeks, which the media is calling “the techno-murders” since each case involves technology suddenly going haywire. Thus, the following morning, Tony phones the Fantastic Four for help, thinking Mister Fantastic’s scientific expertise might be invaluable. He is annoyed, however, when Mister Fantastic sends the Human Torch instead, and the two heroes get off on the wrong foot. During their strategy meeting, Infinitus strikes again, severely damaging the administration building, and gets away by causing another building’s façade to collapse onto the Human Torch. Tony decides to use some applied psychology on the brash, young hero, adopting a patronizing attitude to goad him into trying to prove himself by capturing Infinitus before Iron Man can. As the Human Torch streaks off, Tony retreats to a workshop and spends the next few hours modifying a tracking device to locate the villain. He wonders if there’s any merit to Infinitus’s claim of being a reincarnated pharaoh and if his victims could actually be the reincarnations of that pharaoh’s ancient enemies. At dusk, Iron Man flies out over the city with the tracking device, which soon leads him to a nondescript factory building. He is ambushed by Infinitus, whose heat ray again shorts out the hero’s armor. Luckily, the Human Torch swoops in and rescues Iron Man, boasting that he’s figured out the entire scheme on his own. He’s also discovered that Amenemhet III was of the 12th dynasty rather than the 11th, proving that the villain’s reincarnation story was phony. Iron Man and the Human Torch then team up against Infinitus and defeat him, exposing him as a man named Michael Rodgers who was trying to murder his brother, an engineer at Stark International.
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When the sophisticated trap that he has designed for the Man-Thing is ready, Tony sends a crew of engineers and technicians from Stark International to the Florida Everglades with Dane Gavin. They successfully capture the creature and bring it back to a special holding facility, also provided by Stark, that simulates its native environment. Tony is fascinated by the Man-Thing, which appears to be surprisingly docile. When Gavin proves reluctant to put the creature on public display, a meeting of the board of trustees is called to discuss the matter. Tony arrives to find Gavin; Reed Richards and other fellow board members; Vivian Schist, who financed the operation; and her good-looking daughter, Carolyn Schist. Gavin’s concerns are overruled, and the board votes to open a special public exhibit in one week, seeing the Man-Thing as a huge windfall for the museum. Both Tony and Reed assure Gavin that they will personally supervise the preparations.
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One week later, the American Museum of Natural History hosts a formal opening for a select crowd of its most generous patrons. Tony attends in his tuxedo but is so confident in their preparations that he leaves the attaché case containing his armor in his office. In the auditorium, the chairman of the board thanks Tony and Reed, as well as Vivian Schist, for making the event possible. However, as soon as the Man-Thing is revealed, the creature goes berserk and smashes through the transparent wall of its enclosure. As the audience panics, Reed shoves Tony out of the way and tries to restrain the Man-Thing with his elastic arms, but the creature merely oozes out of his grip and shambles toward the exit. Tony curses himself for not bringing along his armor. After wreaking havoc in the dinosaur exhibit, the Man-Thing escapes into the streets, finally collapsing into the fountain in Columbus Circle. Dane Gavin and Carolyn Schist agree that the Man-Thing must be returned to the Everglades immediately, overruling Vivian Schist, who, it turns out, wants the creature destroyed for killing her husband. The board quickly reverses its decision, and Tony provides a vehicle to transport the Man-Thing back to its swamp.
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<b>September 1967 –</b> While on monitor duty at Avengers Mansion, Iron Man receives a video-call from Sif and another Asgardian woman named Krista, informing him that Thor is on his way over with an injured Hercules. Thus, Iron Man powers up the mansion’s medical bay. When Thor arrives, he is determined to use the memory-inducer device on the unconscious Hercules, as they did a couple years ago. Since the device was only partially effective last time, Iron Man quickly modifies it to use Thor’s hammer as a power source. However, once it has been activated, Hercules awakens with a start and goes berserk, believing himself to be surrounded by demons. Iron Man and Thor are unable to restrain the maddened Olympian, but Krista manages to calm him down. After spending the next hour in a stupor, Hercules finally comes to his senses and describes an encounter with a shadowy being that filled him with an unaccustomed dread. Thor decides they should go investigate further, telling Iron Man to come looking for them if they haven’t reported in within the hour. Iron Man is relieved when Hercules contacts him a little while later to say that everything is okay.
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When Thor finds his former love Jane Foster comatose in a hospital, he steps down as Avengers chairman. Iron Man agrees to take over for him and serve in that capacity for the remainder of the year. Hercules and Krista take up residence at Avengers Mansion and spend a lot of time together. Iron Man is struck by Krista’s incredible beauty, being as she is a literal goddess. He is interested to learn that she is the sister of Hildegarde, the Asgardian shield maiden he met two years ago. Near the end of the month, the Scarlet Witch and the Vision return from their honeymoon in French Polynesia and settle into their new routine as a married couple. They decide to continue living in their adjoining rooms at Avengers Mansion.
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<b>October–November 1967 –</b> Tony focuses on running Stark International, though he does spend a good deal of time at Avengers Mansion under the pretext of upgrading the building’s security and communications systems. As team chairman, Iron Man recruits Krista to provide combat training to the Scarlet Witch and Moondragon, sessions which he is happy to oversee personally. Whenever he can get away, Tony spends time with Roxanne in Detroit.
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<b>December 1967 –</b> Iron Man is hanging out with Krista and Jarvis in the Avengers’ conference room when a video-call comes in from a distraught Tom Fagan up in Rutland, Vermont. Fagan reports that Loki has vanished, replaced by a kid named Bunker who disappeared after last year’s Halloween party. Bunker remembers nothing since that night, and Fagan suspects that he’s been there disguised as Loki ever since Thor and Captain America dropped the god of mischief off in Rutland. To make matters worse, the police are accusing Fagan of kidnapping Bunker and holding him prisoner for the last year. Iron Man assures Fagan that the Avengers will vouch for him and get everything sorted out. Just then, Thor arrives with Firelord, a former herald of Galactus who’s been living on Earth for the last two years. Firelord reveals that he just encountered Loki in the Dark Dimension and learned of his plans to conquer Asgard using the augmented mystical powers he’s gained since Dormammu’s essence was blasted through him by the Evil Eye of Avalon. Loki then sent Firelord back to Earth, presumably to warn Thor of his brother’s plot. Iron Man informs the thunder god of Tom Fagan’s call, corroborating Firelord’s story. Thor is clearly torn, knowing that honor demands he stand with the Avengers against Loki’s threat but wanting nothing more than to race back to be with Jane Foster. After learning from Krista that Sif and Hercules have gone off on some kind of quest together, Thor goes out for a walk to collect his thoughts. While he is gone, a mystical force field suddenly surrounds the mansion, imprisoning Iron Man, Krista, Firelord, and Jarvis. Reports soon come in that every other superhero in the world is likewise trapped. Loki then leads a host of Asgardian warriors on an invasion of Washington, D.C., declaring war on Earth. Luckily, Thor remains free and joins the U.S. Army troops who mobilize to stop them, though Earth’s defenders are forced to retreat after their initial skirmish. Unable to help, Iron Man spends the time on the phone with the authorities in Rutland, getting the charges against Fagan dropped.
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Just before dawn the next morning, Firelord grows impatient and starts blasting at the force field with his flaming staff, which appears to channel cosmic energy. Iron Man analyzes the field’s reaction to Firelord’s blasts and formulates a plan to breach it. By focusing both Firelord’s cosmic energies and Iron Man’s repulsor rays on a small section of the field, they succeed in creating a breach large enough for Firelord to fit through. As Firelord streaks off toward Washington, D.C., Iron Man collapses, his armor’s energy reserves completely drained. Krista carries him to a spot where he can recharge his armor, and before long he is back on his feet. Not long after, with help from Firelord, Thor defeats Loki and orders the Asgardians to withdraw. Krista decides to return home with them, bids farewell to Iron Man and Jarvis, and departs. Both men are disappointed to see the gorgeous goddess go. Once back in New York, Thor resumes his vigil at the hospital. Iron Man is saddened to learn that Jane’s condition is terminal. The Grand Vizier of Odin’s royal court has accompanied the thunder god and takes a room at the mansion, intending to spend some time on “Midgard.”
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Iron Man is relieved when Steve Rogers turns up at Avengers Mansion, discards his tattered Nomad outfit, and retrieves his Captain America costume and shield from the storage vault. Having resolved his identity crisis at last, Captain America sets out to hunt down his nemesis, the Red Skull. Nearly a week later, Iron Man attends the Avengers’ Sixth Annual Christmas Charity Benefit with Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, and Moondragon. Thor puts in a brief appearance, and the Grand Vizier seems genuinely curious about the team’s holiday customs. The next day, Tony flies to Detroit to spend Christmas Eve with Roxanne. They have a wonderful time together. Looking back, Tony realizes he’s had a very good year.
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<b>Notes:</b>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>January–May 1967 –</b> Black Spectre wreaks havoc in the United States in <i>Daredevil</i> #109–112 and <i>Marvel Two-In-One</i> #3, during which the Avengers remain behind the scenes.
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<b>June 1967 –</b> Disillusioned after the Secret Empire affair, Captain America calls it quits in <i>Captain America</i> #176. Iron Man and his fellow superheroes fight Ultron-7 while attending the wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver in <i>Avengers</i> #127 and <i>Fantastic Four</i> #150. The Avengers’ battle with Kang the Conqueror then follows in <i>Avengers</i> #128–129 and <i>Giant-Size Avengers</i> #2. The timestream disturbances in the late 20th century that Kang refers to are the result of the “time bubble” (which stretches from 1995 to 2010) that Iron Man and Thor (among others) will investigate in <i>Avengers</i> #296–297 and <i>Fantastic Four</i> #337–341.
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<b>July 1967 –</b> Iron Man fights some of his old foes at the San Diego comic book convention in <i>Iron Man</i> #72. This may have been the first such event held in the city, occurring a few years earlier than it did in the real world. The saga of the Celestial Madonna continues through <i>Avengers</i> #130–137 and <i>Giant-Size Avengers</i> #3–4. The members of the Legion of the Unliving are actually simulacra created by Kang using Immortus’s time-manipulation devices. Baron Zemo is based on the villain as he was just before he died while fighting Captain America in 1963. Wonder Man is likewise a simulacrum based on Simon Williams just before his apparent death earlier in 1963. The Original Human Torch simulacrum is based on the flaming android just before he deactivated himself out in the desert in 1955. Rather than sending him into the past, the crafty Immortus merely disintegrates the fake Human Torch like the rest of the Legion of the Unliving, but the Avengers are none the wiser. It is finally revealed in <i>Avengers West Coast</i> #50 that the Vision and the Original Human Torch are two separate entities. (Later revelations to the contrary are considered non-canonical here.) When Iron Man departs from Avengers Mansion on the splash page of <i>Iron Man</i> #74, the Vision and the Scarlet Witch are erroneously shown instead of Moondragon. Iron Man then returns to Vietnam to rescue Roxanne Gilbert and battle the Crimson Dynamo in <i>Iron Man</i> #73. (Only the first page of #74 occurs out of sequence.) The bizarre weather phenomena result from Dormammu imprisoning Gaea in <i>Doctor Strange</i> v.2 #8–9. The people of Manhattan are then rendered insensate for two days by alien invaders in <i>Giant-Size Fantastic Four</i> #3.
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<b>August 1967 –</b> Earthquakes strike Manhattan in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #28, courtesy of a pair of disgruntled scientists being manipulated by They Who Wield Power. The Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and Daredevil remain behind the scenes. Iron Man and the Human Torch then join forces against Infinitus in the next issue. Tony Stark helps capture the Man-Thing in <i>Giant-Size Man-Thing</i> #2. (The placement for this story suggested in <i>Iron Man</i> #73 is erroneous.)
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<b>September 1967 –</b> Iron Man is on hand when Thor brings Hercules to Avengers Mansion in <i>Thor</i> #230. The shadowy entity Hercules encountered was the demonic Dweller in Darkness.
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<b>December 1967 –</b> Iron Man is trapped in Avengers Mansion during Loki’s attempted invasion of Earth in <i>Thor</i> #232–234. He remains behind the scenes when Steve Rogers again takes up the mantle of Captain America in <i>Captain America</i> #183.</span>
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<i><b>Jump Back:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2018/12/omu-iron-man-year-five.html">Iron Man – Year Five</a></i>
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<i><b>Next Issue:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2023/03/omu-fantastic-four-year-seven.html">The Fantastic Four – Year Seven</a></i>
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<br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-31739127532940240932022-08-10T10:13:00.079-05:002022-10-30T12:23:23.072-05:00OMU: Thor -- Year SixOld habits die hard, it would seem, even for thunder gods. Over the next twelve months, <b>The Mighty Thor</b> falls back into his double life as a part-time superhero and part-time medical doctor, as well as seeing a rekindling of his romance with the mortal nurse Jane Foster. Also, after a long interregnum, we finally catch up with Thor’s solo title again, which brings a return of his Asgardian supporting cast. It proves to be a lean time for the Avengers, plagued by membership upheaval and long periods of inaction, but Thor does what he can to get the team through it until he is overwhelmed by matters of the heart.
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<b>Note:</b> The following timeline depicts the <b>Original Marvel Universe</b> (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2004/12/the-original-marvel-universe.html">previous posts</a> for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
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Let the tale be told of… <b>The True History of the Mighty Thor!</b>
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<b>January–March 1967 –</b> Thor splits his time between fighting crime in New York City as the Asgardian god of thunder and working as a physician in his mortal identity of Donald Blake. In addition to caring for the retired superhero known as the Whizzer, still recuperating from his recent heart attack at Avengers Mansion, Blake regularly checks on the young Asgardian woman Krista, who remains in a coma in a Manhattan hospital, the result of an ordeal in Hades over a year ago. Having rented an apartment for himself in the city, Thor finds himself once again spending more time in his mortal guise and has little contact with Asgard. Periodically, the thunder god travels to Rutland, Vermont to visit his adopted brother Loki, who appears to be in a near-catatonic state. Thor also attends the Avengers’ regularly scheduled meetings, along with Iron Man, Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, the Swordsman, and Mantis.
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Thor is frustrated when the subversive organization Black Spectre continually gets away with carrying out offensive pranks and outrageous sabotage, such as inciting a race riot at the Statue of Liberty, installing a swastika atop the Washington Monument, draping Philadelphia’s Independence Hall in black shrouds, and carving Adolf Hitler’s face into Mount Rushmore. S.H.I.E.L.D., which assists the government with repairing all the damage, assures the Avengers that it’s doing all it can to stop Black Spectre.
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<b>April 1967 –</b> Thor agrees to once again serve as Avengers chairman, taking over for the Vision. As a prince of Asgard, he enjoys being in charge of the team, though he finds many of the routine administrative duties rather tedious.
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<b>May 1967 –</b> The Avengers receive a message from Black Spectre claiming that they have an atomic bomb hidden somewhere under Manhattan, which they threaten to detonate if the Avengers interfere with their overthrow of the U.S. government. Soon after, the terrorist group invades Washington, D.C. and storms the White House, only to be defeated by Daredevil and the Black Widow. Thor is relieved when the bomb threat turns out to be a hoax.
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<b>June 1967 –</b> At Avengers Mansion, Thor joins Iron Man, the Vision, and the team’s butler, Edwin Jarvis, in trying to talk the disillusioned Captain America out of abandoning his costumed identity. Thor insists that Cap is the epitome of the noble warrior and nothing could be more glorious, but Cap counters that such sentiments are better applied to Asgardians than the men of Earth, where things are more complicated. Ultimately, Cap does decide to retire, leaving his costume and shield in a storage vault beneath the mansion. Though disappointed, Thor respects his teammate’s decision.
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While taking a taxi to the hospital to check in on Krista, Don Blake sees a flaming message in the sky from the Human Torch, requesting that Thor meet him atop the Statue of Liberty. Curious, Blake tells the driver to pull over and finds a shadowy alley where he can transform back into the god of thunder. When he arrives, Thor is surprised to find the Human Torch is there with Molto, the Lava Man. Mortally wounded, Molto warns them that his tribe’s fanatical witch-doctor, Jinku, has convinced their king to use a weapon commandeered from the Mole Man to cause every volcano on earth to erupt simultaneously. Molto fled to the surface to try to find Thor, only to be cut down by the radioactive energies from Jinku’s staff. He explains that Jinku, inspired by strange visions, is convinced the Lava Men will succeed in taking over the world. With his dying breath, Molto reveals that Jinku and the king are planning to test the device on Mauna Loa in Hawaii at any moment. Thor is saddened by his friend’s demise, but with no time to spare, he uses Mjolnir to generate a space-time vortex that carries him and the Human Torch to Hawaii, where they find Mauna Loa is already erupting. Thor immediately digs a deep channel in the ground to divert the lava flow away from a nearby village and conjures up a tropical storm directly above the summit. Using his enchanted hammer, Thor then tunnels down to Subterranea and confronts the Lava Men. The Human Torch follows, but the two heroes are soon knocked unconscious by the witch-doctor’s deadly staff. When he comes to, the thunder god finds he has reverted to his mortal form. Blake realizes that Jinku must have tried to use Mjolnir as a power source for his world-destroying weapon. Not seeing the Human Torch anywhere, Blake assumes the Lava Men must have killed him. He clambers up the side of the gigantic machine and retrieves his walking stick, immediately changing himself back into Thor. Wading into the Lava Men’s vast army, he is heartened when the Human Torch arrives on the scene along with hordes of Subterraneans. A fierce battle ensues with over half-a-million combatants, but with Thor and the Human Torch on their side, the Subterraneans eventually win the day. Before returning to the surface, Thor again gives the defeated Lava Men a stern warning to live peaceably in their own realm. The Human Torch is eager to brag to his teammates about his epic adventure, though as far as Thor is concerned, he was pretty useless.
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Thor is sitting down to dinner at Avengers Mansion with Iron Man, the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, the Swordsman, and Mantis when the Inhumans Gorgon and Lockjaw suddenly materialize in the room. Gorgon is annoyed that the Avengers are not ready to leave for the Great Refuge to attend the wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver, but this is the first the team has heard of it. Apparently, Quicksilver neglected to invite them, much to the Scarlet Witch’s chagrin. Nevertheless, she decides that they will attend in any case. Iron Man sets up a video link to the Inhumans’ royal palace so the Whizzer will be able to watch the ceremony, since he has come to believe that Quicksilver is his son. The Avengers then fly around the world to the Himalayas in a Quinjet while Gorgon and Lockjaw teleport home. When they arrive, they are greeted by the rest of the royal family—Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal, Karnak, and Triton—as well as the Human Torch, the Thing, Mister Fantastic, and Susan Richards. Mister Fantastic introduces the Avengers to Agatha Harkness, an elderly woman who helps take care of his two-year-old son, Franklin Richards, who lies in a coma. When Mantis asks about what appears to be a huge, grotesque statue in the center of the city, Medusa explains that it is actually a giant android called Omega, which Black Bolt’s brother, Maximus the Mad, created in order to weaponize the Inhumans’ prejudice against their servant class, the Alpha Primitives. After being deactivated, the android was left in a public square as a memorial. Triton insists that Black Bolt has instituted many reforms since that fateful day.
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Several hours later, Thor joins the others for a royal banquet in a large stadium, from which Quicksilver is conspicuously absent. To cheer up Crystal and entertain the crowds, Thor, Iron Man, the Human Torch, the Thing, and Medusa put on an impromptu exhibition of their superhuman powers. However, Iron Man and Medusa fall under some form of mind control and attack the section of the stands where the Alpha Primitives are seated. The pair is quickly subdued and then lapses into unconsciousness. The Alpha Primitives start yelling accusations at Black Bolt, only to be shouted down by the Inhumans around them. The Alpha Primitives then leave the stadium in protest, and the festivities are quickly brought to a close. Thor realizes the situation in the Great Refuge is less rosy than the royal family made it seem. Later, he meets with Mister Fantastic and Black Bolt to discuss the situation, with Triton interpreting for his silent king. The meeting is interrupted when the Swordsman and Mantis raise the alarm—Omega has come to life and kidnapped Crystal.
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Thor, Mister Fantastic, Black Bolt, and Triton rejoin the others and see that Quicksilver has finally deigned to make an appearance now that his bride is in danger. Through Triton, Black Bolt suggests that the Avengers, being impartial observers, may have better luck questioning the Alpha Primitives about Omega’s reactivation, and Thor concurs. Quicksilver leads his former teammates into the caverns where the Alpha Primitives live, only to lose his temper and attack them, demanding that they return Crystal at once. Mantis forces Quicksilver to stand down, but they both suddenly fall unconscious. Thor quickly determines that their symptoms match those of Iron Man and Medusa and calls for the Avengers to retreat back to the surface. The Alpha Primitives become a rampaging mob, but Thor keeps them at bay with bolts of lightning from his hammer. Outside, the Avengers find the other heroes carrying Maximus on a stretcher. Though he appears to be unconscious as well, Maximus leaps up as soon as the Alpha Primitives emerge from the caverns, grabs a blaster, and opens fire on them. In the ensuing melee, Maximus, Gorgon, Karnak, Triton, the Swordsman, and the Human Torch abruptly fall unconscious as well. Finally, Omega strides across the plaza to the remaining heroes and reveals himself to be Ultron-7 in disguise. The murderous robot explains that Maximus brought the severed head of Ultron-6 to the Great Refuge after the Vision defeated him a few years ago and eventually fused his circuits with the Omega android, giving him Omega’s psychic abilities, which he has used to incapacitate the unconscious heroes. Ultron-7 then turns those abilities against all his enemies, intent on destroying their minds. His scheme backfires, though, as his psychic energies inadvertently awaken Franklin Richards from his coma. The boy lashes out at the source of the attack with his mysterious mutant powers, obliterating Ultron-7’s computerized brain. Thor and the others then look on happily as the Richards family is at last reunited.
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The next day, as heralds fly over the Great Refuge blowing their horns to summon the guests to the wedding ceremony, Thor realizes that neither he nor Iron Man are particularly eager to attend the festivities due to their own star-crossed love lives. The thunder god reminisces about his love affair with Jane Foster and complains of how circumstances always seem to be keeping him and his new paramour, the goddess Sif, apart. Iron Man admits ruefully that he lost his heart to Pepper Potts, who is now married to his best friend, and has been searching for someone to replace her ever since. Noting that not everyone can be as lucky as Quicksilver and Crystal, Iron Man suggests they head to the palace. The wedding proceeds with no further disturbances, and at the conclusion of the ceremony, Lockjaw teleports the newlyweds off to their honeymoon. A huge celebration follows, which Thor enjoys tremendously despite the Inhumans’ peculiar customs.
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The Avengers then return to New York, arriving at the mansion shortly before midnight. The Fantastic Four stop by on their way home to say goodnight. However, a sudden storm forms overhead, unleashing a series of deadly lightning bolts that strike the roof. Thor immediately launches himself into the sky and tries to dispel the storm, only to find that it resists his influence. He is startled when Agatha Harkness reveals herself to be a powerful sorceress by dissipating the storm with a magical incantation. She then informs the Fantastic Four that she will no longer be serving as Franklin’s nanny, for the time has come for her to take on a new charge—the Scarlet Witch. The Avengers are shocked, but the Scarlet Witch admits that she has long wanted to study true witchcraft and accepts Agatha as her tutor. As the Fantastic Four depart and the Avengers enter the building, Thor authorizes Agatha to take up residence there. He and Iron Man are then distracted when the Swordsman becomes distraught after Mantis abruptly ends their romantic relationship. Before they can resolve the situation, the Avengers are drawn outside by a commotion in the street. They find an intensely bright light shining down on the mansion from what appears to be a new star in the sky. Suddenly, their old foe, Kang the Conqueror, materializes and announces that the star is a signal indicating that the 20th century is ripe for conquest.
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Using 41st-century robots called “Macrobots,” Kang easily defeats Thor, Iron Man, the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, the Swordsman, Mantis, and Agatha Harkness and takes them prisoner. The time-traveling despot then explains that the “newborn star” heralds the appearance of the legendary Celestial Madonna, who is to mate with the most powerful man in the world and produce a child who will conquer the universe. Kang is determined to be that man and to rule the heavens through the child. Due to strange disturbances in the timestream in the late 20th century, he was unable to determine the exact date the star would manifest itself, so he left a temporal monitor behind during his first incursion four and a half years ago. And although the historical records of the 20th century that have survived to Kang’s era are fragmentary at best, the positioning of the star above Avengers Mansion suggests that the Celestial Madonna is either the Scarlet Witch, Mantis, or Agatha Harkness. In order to solve that riddle, Kang teleports his prisoners to a laboratory hidden inside an ancient Egyptian pyramid, derisively leaving the Swordsman behind. He then conducts a battery of tests on the women while Thor, Iron Man, and the Vision struggle to escape the paralysis beam that renders them helpless. Fortunately, the Swordsman is able to pull himself together and mount a rescue mission, apparently led to the pyramid by Agatha’s telepathy. Kang dismisses the threat of the Swordsman, though, revealing that he designed the pyramid himself while ruling Egypt as the pharaoh Rama-Tut and left a vampire named Amenhotep behind to guard it. Upon entering, the Swordsman inadvertently releases the vampire, though it soon stumbles out into the sunlight and is disintegrated. Unconcerned, Kang seals Thor, Iron Man, and the Vision inside Macrobot exoskeletons, revealing his plan to send them out to kill key government personnel in the United States, the Soviet Union, and the People’s Republic of China, after which a strategically placed neutron bomb will set off a global nuclear war. With that, Kang loads all his captives into his time-capsule and flies to the United Nations building in New York City.
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With the time-capsule rendered invisible by a cloaking device, Kang dispatches the Macrobot containing the Vision, only to watch him be defeated by the Swordsman, who has been joined by Hawkeye and a mysterious stranger. Deciding to cut his losses, Kang pilots the time-capsule to Peking, China, where he sends out the Macrobot containing Iron Man. Again, his scheme is foiled by the Swordsman, Hawkeye, and their unknown companion, now joined by the Vision. Enraged, Kang abandons his plan to go to Moscow and sends the Macrobot containing Thor out to recapture Iron Man and the Vision. As the cloaking device is deactivated, Vision is able to phase inside and free the Scarlet Witch, Mantis, and Agatha. The two younger women immediately join the battle, though they bicker constantly. Thor takes a beating inside the Macrobot, but his teammates manage to immobilize it long enough for the mystery man to open it up, releasing the thunder god. The enigmatic stranger then confronts Kang, who reveals him to be his own future self, living once again as Pharaoh Rama-Tut. As the two men start fighting each other, a strange wave of hallucinatory images wash over the Avengers—dreamlike images of the past, present, and future. Suddenly, Kang realizes that Mantis is the Celestial Madonna and announces that if he can’t have her, no one will. He fires his ray gun at Mantis, but the Swordsman leaps in front of her and is mortally wounded. Rama-Tut tackles Kang, and as they struggle, they inadvertently activate the time-capsule, which dematerializes. The Avengers are shocked and horrified by this sudden turn of events. The Swordsman dies in Mantis’s arms, cursing himself as a failure. The sorrowful Avengers honor their fallen teammate, then take his body back to New York. When they arrive at the mansion, Jarvis informs them that the Whizzer has moved on, showing them a morose farewell note he left behind. The Scarlet Witch is very upset by it. Thor encourages everyone to get some much-needed rest.
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<b>July 1967 –</b> Over the next few days, Thor agrees to serve another term as Avengers chairman and Hawkeye continues to hang around, though he won’t commit to formally rejoining the team. He’s not shy, though, about claiming credit for convincing Steve Rogers to adopt a new costumed identity. Mantis requests permission to take the Swordsman’s body to Vietnam for burial, since she has decided to return home rather than remain with the Avengers. Thor grants her request, offering to have the team accompany her and try to unravel some of the secrets of her past. Mantis is touched by such generosity. The Scarlet Witch begs off, saying that Agatha Harkness is insistent that she continue her education in witchcraft without delay. Vision is also reluctant to go, concerned that he has had panic attacks in the heat of battle a few times now, but Thor and Iron Man assure him that they will look out for him. Hawkeye agrees to go along, so the five heroes are soon aboard a Quinjet on its way to South Vietnam.
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After spending a night in Saigon, the Avengers fly their Quinjet to the abandoned temple of the Priests of Pama, where they battled the Star-Stalker several month ago. There, they conduct a simple funeral for the Swordsman and bury him in a shady spot in the garden. Afterwards, they are drawn into a confrontation with the Radioactive Man, the Titanium Man, and the Crimson Dynamo, who are chasing a terrified local man. The trio claims that they are considered heroes in that region and were punishing the man for beating his wife. Iron Man loses his temper and charges at his foes, intent on settling some old scores, but Thor forces him to stand down, citing jurisdictional issues. The Avengers return to Saigon, where they broadcast a worldwide appeal for Captain Marvel or Rick Jones to contact them, since, like the Priests of Pama, Captain Marvel is of Kree origin and might be able to shed some light on the situation. When no answer is immediately forthcoming, they decide to check out some of the places Mantis remembers from her childhood. However, her memories turn out to be at odds with the facts, leading Mantis to start questioning her sanity.
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Another day of investigating leads the Avengers to Saigon’s warehouse district, where Mantis remembers working in seedy bars and brothels. But again, no one there recognizes her. Suddenly, they are set upon by the Radioactive Man, the Titanium Man, and the Crimson Dynamo, accompanied this time by an armored Vietnamese man calling himself the Slasher. Given that they are now in Saigon, Thor refuses to back down, so a fight breaks out. The thunder god focuses his efforts on the Titanium Man while his teammates deal with the others. In the course of the battle, it is revealed that the Slasher recruited his associates by claiming to be a Viet Cong sympathizer whom the Americans were harassing, but when he drops his bag of stolen diamonds, the Titanium Man realizes they were duped by a petty criminal and calls an end to the fighting. The communist supermen withdraw, leaving the Avengers to turn the Slasher and the stolen diamonds over to the local authorities. The following day, the Avengers meet up with Steve Rogers in his new identity as Nomad. He reports that he’s just wrapped up his first case, for the most part—he’s just waiting for the last two members of the Serpent Squad to turn up somewhere so he can apprehend them. After a battle with the villains on a Roxxon oil rig in the Pacific Ocean, he and the Sub-Mariner were pursuing Warlord Krang when he heard the Avengers were in Saigon and decided to pay them a visit. Nomad is surprised to hear of how the Swordsman sacrificed his life to save Mantis, given his criminal past. Thor and Iron Man both find their friend’s new black-and-gold costume to be somewhat off-putting but are glad that he seems to have put the Secret Empire scandal behind him. A few minutes later, Jarvis radios the team to report that there’s been no word from Captain Marvel but news outlets are reporting that the fugitive Serpent Squad members have been spotted in Los Angeles. With that, Nomad bounds off, promising to keep the Avengers posted on how his mission turns out.
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A moment later, without warning, Thor finds himself teleported to a series of stone catacombs in the timeless dimension of Limbo, where he is taunted by the echoing voice of Kang the Conqueror. Thor tries to smash his way out of the labyrinth but finds that something has neutralized the power of his enchanted hammer, though he is still able to change into Don Blake. He soon encounters a lumbering monster that appears to be stitched together from various corpses. Blake panics and strikes the creature with his walking stick. It retaliates by trying to strangle him. Blake quickly turns back into Thor, and the thunder god easily bests the grunting, growling monster. Realizing that his mute foe is as much a pawn in Kang’s game as he is, Thor lets the creature go and follows it as it shuffles off down the corridor. The thunder god grows frustrated when he somehow loses the monster in the labyrinth, but then he finds Iron Man lying motionless on the floor. Unable to detect any signs of life, Thor vows to wreak terrible vengeance on Kang and all his minions. Soon finding Kang in the labyrinth, Thor attacks him but is unable to penetrate his personal force field. The thunder god is shocked when Wonder Man comes to Kang’s defense, revealing that he was brought back to life by technology belonging to someone called “Immortus.” The battle between Thor and Wonder Man is inconclusive, but the tide turns when the monster reappears, accompanied by the long-lost original Human Torch, whom Thor remembers encountering briefly during World War II. To Thor’s relief, the monster and the Torch refuse to obey Kang’s commands and declare the fight at an end. As Kang sputters in impotent rage, Vision steps out of the shadows, his left arm badly damaged. Wonder Man finds he is reluctant to attack the Vision, and Thor realizes it must be because they share the same brain patterns. Thor leaps at Kang, battering his force field with Mjolnir as a berserker rage comes over him. Unable to withstand the onslaught, Kang initiates a time-shift in order to escape. After the villain has dematerialized, Thor calms down and is astonished by the Vision’s revelation that he and the Human Torch are, in fact, the same android. Vision believes that this is the explanation for his panic attacks—certain circumstances were triggering residual memories of being entombed or submerged for long periods to prevent his former self from flaming on. However, they still don’t know how or when the metamorphosis took place.
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Suddenly, they are all teleported to another part of the structure, what appears to be the throne room of an enormous castle. There, they find Rama-Tut with a similar-looking man called Immortus. Hawkeye and Mantis also materialize, along with Iron Man’s body and an unconscious fellow in black known as Midnight. Immortus assures the Avengers that Iron Man’s death is merely an illusion—the flow of time for the golden Avenger has been slowed down to such an extent that he is merely between heartbeats. Immortus reverses the effect, and Iron Man revives instantly, unaware that any time has passed since he collapsed. After restoring the Vision’s arm, Immortus dispatches Kang’s so-called Legion of the Unliving—the monster, Wonder Man, Midnight, Baron Heinrich Zemo, and the Ghost of the Flying Dutchman—back to oblivion. Rama-Tut thanks the Avengers for their help preventing Kang from causing chaos while chasing after the Celestial Madonna, then teleports himself away. Immortus then offers to facilitate the Human Torch and the Vision’s quest to learn the secrets of their past, saying he is sympathetic to their plight because, as the Avengers may have guessed, he is the same man who was once Rama-Tut and Kang. He assumed the name Immortus, he explains, after taking over the dimension of Limbo, where time is not linear. Furthermore, he offers to enable the rest of the Avengers to uncover the ancient secrets of the Celestial Madonna and how that legend has shaped Mantis’s life. Thus, he hands what he terms a “synchro-staff” to both the Human Torch and the Vision and sends them off into the timestream, explaining that, because their secrets are of recent vintage and still able to affect the course of present events, they must go on their journeys through time alone. Immortus hands another synchro-staff to Thor, saying that it’s fine for the others to accompany Mantis since their quest will lead them into the distant past. The enigmatic master of time then activates his machines again, sending Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Mantis into the psychedelic lightshow of the time-vortex.
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The four Avengers soon find themselves flashing phantom-like through vast expanses of space and time while the synchro-staff telepathically narrates the events they are witnessing. First, they see the earliest events in the recorded history of the Kree race, when a delegation of Skrulls arrived on the planet Hala and proposed a contest between the Kree and sentient, telepathic plant-creatures called the Cotati to determine which would serve as the planet’s official representatives in subsequent trade negotiations. A Kree tribe was transported to Earth’s moon through a naturally occurring space warp at the edge of the solar system and there built the city within what the Fantastic Four have dubbed the Blue Area of the Moon. However, when the Skrulls chose the Cotati based on the garden they created, the tribal leader of the Kree, a barbarian named Morag, led his warriors to attack the aliens and slaughtered them. The Kree then plundered the technology of the Skrull spaceship, built a fleet of their own, and soon started the Kree-Skrull War, which has raged off and on for millions of years. Then, several centuries later, the Avengers see how pacifist Kree monks known as the Priests of Pama, who had developed their psychic abilities alongside a unique form of martial arts, entered into an alliance with the surviving Cotati. When the leader of the Kree Empire, the Supreme Intelligence, exiled the pacifists to a remote prison planet, the Cotati telepathically lured the Star-Stalker there. Using their martial-arts skill, the monks drove off the Star-Stalker, then warned the Supreme Intelligence of the threat it represented to Hala. Ultimately, the Supreme Intelligence agreed to the monks’ proposal to spread out across the galaxies in small groups to stand as sentries on all known inhabited worlds. The Priests of Pama then smuggled the Cotati to these remote outposts, where the plant-creatures could live in peace within their temples. One such temple was built on Earth, in the region now known as Vietnam. Thor notes to himself that this accords with what the Star-Stalker told them last year. Mantis realizes with a start that the Cotati garden is where they buried the Swordsman. Suddenly, the four Avengers find themselves materializing in that very garden, where they are met by Mantis’s father, the international criminal mastermind known as Libra, and the Swordsman, seemingly alive and surrounded by a greenish glow. A small spacecraft lands nearby and Moondragon disembarks. Thor, Iron Man, and Mantis remember meeting her last December and know her to be a friend of Captain Marvel.
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The Swordsman prompts Moondragon to tell the Avengers of her origins, and the heroes are struck by the many parallels between her tale and what they’ve learned of Mantis’s youth. Then, Immortus emerges from a portal to the time-vortex, bringing along a large crate, and leads everyone inside the temple’s main building. Telling the Swordsman to carry on, Immortus disappears into the time-vortex again to search for the Vision. The Swordsman and Libra then explain that both Mantis and Moondragon were chosen as potential candidates for the Celestial Madonna and, when circumstances permitted, were taken to remote monasteries to be raised by the descendants of the Kree pacifists. The ultimate goal of the girls’ training was to enable them to communicate with the Cotati—the first non-Kree ever to do so. This formed the basis of Moondragon’s mental powers and Mantis’s empathic nature. After several years, while Moondragon continued on in the life of a priestess, Mantis was given a set of false memories of a childhood on the streets of Saigon and sent out into the world, where she experienced all the mysteries of humanity. As a result, Mantis was finally chosen to be the Celestial Madonna. Moondragon, it is explained, lacked a certain rapport with ordinary people—a conclusion the Priestess of Titan finds insulting.
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Thor and Iron Man are then summoned outside by Hawkeye, who has discovered the Radioactive Man, the Titanium Man, and the Crimson Dynamo lying in the dirt, badly beaten. Iron Man seems especially concerned by the amount of damage his foes’ armor has sustained. The Crimson Dynamo comes to and reveals that they were searching for the Avengers after their abrupt disappearance when they were ambushed by Kang the Conqueror. Realizing that Kang must be making another attempt to kidnap the Celestial Madonna, Thor wonders when the villain will learn his lesson and accept defeat. The three Avengers decide to split up and search the area. Flying around high above the jungle canopy, Thor realizes that Mantis is on the verge of becoming something akin to a god and thinks back to Jane Foster’s ill-fated attempt to become a goddess of Asgard a few years ago. Spotting Kang in a clearing below, Thor swoops down and attacks him, feeling another berserker rage coming over him. Though he puts up a decent fight, Kang proves to be no match for the god of thunder and is beaten into unconsciousness. When the three Avengers then discover that each of them has captured a time-displaced version of Kang, they realize the fights were a delaying tactic and race back to the temple. When they arrive, Thor barely has time to call out a warning before Kang’s time-capsule materializes. Using his force fields, Kang is able to kidnap Mantis and escape, and his three doppelgängers slip away in the confusion. Thor is ready to pursue the villain to the furthest reaches of time and space, but Immortus appears and tells him to stand down. Having brought the Vision, the Scarlet Witch, and Agatha Harkness with him, Immortus finally opens the large crate, revealing Mantis inside, safe and sound. Laughing at his own cleverness, Immortus explains that Kang has actually kidnapped the Space Phantom, the sole subject of his kingdom of Limbo, who used his powers to trade places with Mantis.
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Mantis then reveals the true destiny of the Celestial Madonna: to enter into a marital union with a member of the Cotati and produce a new lifeform—a hybrid of plant and animal who enjoys the best of both worlds. The Swordsman’s body has actually been reanimated by the eldest Cotati on Earth, who arrived with the Priests of Pama nearly 20,000 years ago, and Mantis has agreed to marry him. The Vision and the Scarlet Witch announce that it had better be a double-wedding because they’ve decided to get married too. Immortus is pleased and volunteers to officiate. Thor, as Avengers chairman, makes a motion that the team officially induct Mantis as a full member, to honor her and their time together. The other Avengers agree, and Mantis is truly touched. They all adjourn to the garden, where Immortus conducts a brief ceremony to unite the Scarlet Witch & the Vision and Mantis & the Swordsman/Elder Cotati in matrimony. Afterwards, Mantis and her husband transform into pure energy and ascend into the sky. The Vision and the Scarlet Witch decide on a more traditional honeymoon in French Polynesia. Moondragon flies the Avengers to Saigon to pick up their Quinjet, and the Vision and the Scarlet Witch part company with them there. Thor and Iron Man then fly Agatha back to New York in the Quinjet while Moondragon gives Hawkeye a lift in her spaceship. En route, they all discuss their strange experience over the ship-to-ship communicator. Upon arrival, the Avengers inform Jarvis of everything that’s happened. Moondragon decides that she will stay with the team for a while, so Jarvis prepares a room for her. Iron Man says goodbye and flies off to the Stark International complex on Long Island. The next day, Agatha Harkness and her cat head home, telling the Avengers that the Scarlet Witch has made a good start on her magical training.
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Not long after, the Avengers are baffled by a midsummer snowstorm in New York City. Reports of bizarre weather phenomena come in from across the globe, but the cause remains a mystery. Later, Thor is shocked to wake up and discover that everyone in the city has been unconscious for two days. Reports of strange occurrences start coming in from around the world, but then the Fantastic Four notify the Avengers that it was all part of an alien invasion plot that they have foiled.
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<b>August 1967 –</b> Thor and Moondragon get to know each other as she settles into life at Avengers Mansion. Hawkeye seems to find her irresistibly attractive, though she clearly considers him to be crude and obnoxious. When Manhattan is rocked by a series of unnatural earthquakes, Thor leads Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Moondragon out to help rescue people from damaged buildings. Since the earthquakes seem to have two epicenters—one in Washington Heights at the north end of the island and the other in the Financial District on the island’s southern tip—the thunder god decides to split the team up. He sends Iron Man and Hawkeye to the south while he and Moondragon head to the north. There, they receive some help from the Human Torch and Medusa.
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<b>September 1967 –</b> Hearing an explosion while flying over Manhattan one night, Thor goes to investigate and finds Hercules rescuing a young man from a burning tenement building. After summoning up a rainstorm to extinguish the fire, Thor joins Hercules and a police detective, Ralph Blumkenn, to discuss the matter. Blumkenn explains to Thor that, according to Hercules, the fire was caused by an elderly resident who used his gas oven to commit suicide while muttering about eternal life. This matches three previous suicides of people speaking cryptically about eternal life. Though initially skeptical that there’s some kind of conspiracy, Thor and Hercules agree to look into it. Not being much of a detective, Thor asks Odin for help, so Odin sends Sif to Earth. Thor and Sif are overjoyed to see each other again, but Hercules finds them annoying and goes off to solve the mystery on his own. Irritated, Thor takes Sif to the hospital to see Krista. They are relieved to find that Krista has finally emerged from her coma, fully recovered. Then, less than an hour after going off on his own, Hercules stumbles into the room looking utterly terrified and passes out. The thunder god rushes Hercules to Avengers Mansion and consults with Iron Man. When he comes to, Hercules goes berserk until Krista calms him down. Since Hercules’s memories of the past hour are fragmentary at best, he and Thor retrace his steps and are drawn into a terrifying encounter with a demonic being known as the Dweller in Darkness in its subterranean lair. The heroes refuse to give in to despair, however, and escape back to the light of day. Blumkenn meets up with them and reports that two patients at Bellevue Hospital were on the verge of committing suicide like the others but snapped out of it suddenly, for which he credits Thor and Hercules. Thor is shocked when Blumkenn says one of the patients was asking for him—a woman named Jane Foster.
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Thor flies at once to Bellevue Hospital and storms into Jane’s room, only to find she has lapsed into a coma. Seeing her there, all of Thor’s old feelings for her come flooding back. Determined to maintain a vigil in the hospital, Thor steps down as Avengers chairman early, with Iron Man agreeing to take over for him. Knowing how much Jane has meant to Thor, Sif tries to be supportive. Hercules and Krista take up residence at the mansion and spend a lot of time together.
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<b>October–November 1967 –</b> Refusing to leave Jane’s side while she lies in a coma, Thor neglects all other matters. Sif’s patience starts to wear thin, as it seems clear that Thor’s feelings for Jane are much deeper than Sif realized. Hercules and Krista visit the thunder god regularly, but he refuses to be cheered up. As the weeks pass, Jane’s condition slowly deteriorates.
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<b>December 1967 –</b> Thor’s vigil is interrupted when Krista charges into Jane’s hospital room and informs the thunder god that Hercules is fighting for his life against a monster of some kind in Times Square. Angered, Thor launches himself out the window and flies to the scene, where he finds a hairy, hulking brute called Armak on a rampage. As they engage with each other, Thor is surprised by Armak’s strength and savagery. Their brawl takes them to the top of a skyscraper construction site, where Armak gets the upper hand and starts choking Thor to death. Luckily, Armak is distracted by a woman down below yelling through a bullhorn. She calls him “Arnold” and begs him to stop. Thor punches Armak in the jaw, sending him plummeting to his death. Satisfied that the battle is over, Thor flies directly back to the hospital, leaving Hercules to deal with the situation on the ground.
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Jane finally regains consciousness and recognizes Thor. Heartsick, the thunder god vows to be ever at her side. However, she has not responded to any of the experimental treatments her doctors have tried, and Thor knows she is dying. Later, while Jane is sleeping, Thor goes to brood on a nearby rooftop and is accosted by Firelord, the former herald of Galactus whom Thor and Hercules freed from servitude two years ago. Enraged by Firelord’s apparent ingratitude, Thor responds with extreme violence, and their fight causes tremendous property damage before they finally agree to parley. They head to Avengers Mansion, where they find Iron Man, Krista, and Jarvis in the conference room. Firelord then explains that he stumbled upon a portal to the Dark Dimension, where he encountered Loki, who was ranting about his plans to conquer Asgard. The god of mischief revealed that he had absorbed Dormammu’s mystic essence when it was blasted through his mind by the Evil Eye of Avalon last year. As soon as he was able, Loki took refuge in the Dark Dimension and studied Dormammu’s mystic secrets. Iron Man then reports that he’s just heard from their friend Tom Fagan up in Rutland, Vermont, who said that Loki had vanished that morning, to be replaced by the teenaged boy who disappeared after last year’s Halloween party. Stunned by these revelations, Thor realizes that Loki must have escaped into the Dark Dimension almost immediately after being left in Rutland, leaving behind a hapless doppelgänger in his place. Firelord suggests that Loki sent him back to Earth specifically to alert Thor of his brother’s plot and offers to help save Asgard. Thor is torn, knowing that honor demands he stand with the Avengers against Loki’s threat but wanting nothing more than to race back to be with Jane.
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After learning from Krista that Sif and Hercules have gone off on some kind of quest together, Thor takes a walk around the neighborhood, trying to decide which course of action is right. His mind is made up when he saves a small boy from a runaway truck and realizes that all of humanity needs his help. However, upon returning to Avengers Mansion, Thor finds the entire building surrounded by an impenetrable force field. He deduces that Loki must be responsible, intent on depriving the world of its greatest champions. Following a brief visit with Jane in the hospital, Thor flies to Washington, D.C. and attends a meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Pentagon. They inform him that similar force fields are imprisoning all known superheroes—clearly Loki wants to fight Thor one-on-one. Within minutes, Loki’s invasion begins, as legions of Asgardian warriors emerge through dimensional portals just like the one Firelord encountered. Thor flies out and confronts the Asgardians on the Arlington Memorial Bridge, wondering why Odin has permitted this incursion. When Loki appears, Thor is struck by the changes in his adopted brother wrought by Dormammu’s malign influence.
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Loki orders dozens of his warriors to attack Thor, but the thunder god ends up generating a vortex that blows them off the bridge into the Potomac River. Loki mocks Thor’s efforts, revealing that he was responsible for Armak’s rampage. He then blasts Thor the entire length of the bridge with the eldritch flame from his burning sword. Thor is astonished by Loki’s newfound might. A ragtag group of soldiers then rolls up, led by General Sam Sawyer, who says it’s the best the Army can do on such short notice. Thor knows they will be no match for Asgardian warriors, and he is soon proved right as a terrible battle ensues. While Thor keeps Loki busy, Army demolition experts blow a hole in the bridge. Unfortunately, Loki conjures up a force field that keeps his forces from falling into the river. Unable to counter such magic, the Army retreats while Loki laughs maniacally.
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As night falls over the city, Thor argues with General Sawyer over tactics and strategy. He is horrified by Sawyer’s willingness to drop a nuclear bomb on the Asgardians if nothing else will stop them. Unexpectedly, Asgard’s Grand Vizier materializes and informs Thor that Odin has embarked on a sojourn on Midgard in mortal form and, to make matters worse, has placed a spell of forgetfulness over himself. Thus, no help can be expected from the All-Father; Thor must stand or fall alone. Within the hour, the thunder god leads a commando squad into Loki’s encampment near the Lincoln Memorial, only to be captured immediately. With a mere gesture, Loki imprisons Thor and the commandos in a crystalline prison, then raves about how he will conquer the world at dawn.
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When the sun rises several hours later, Thor senses that the spell making the crystal structure unbreachable is weakening. With great effort, he is able to smash through it with Mjolnir. He and the commandos then find Loki fighting with Firelord, who has somehow escaped the force field surrounding Avengers Mansion. Thor punches Loki in the face and challenges him to single combat, saying he will be branded a coward for all time if he refuses. Naturally, Loki agrees, knowing he need only keep Thor away from his enchanted hammer for sixty seconds, whereupon the thunder god will revert to his vulnerable mortal form. However, Thor has noticed that his brother’s voice and manner are becoming more familiar, meaning Dormammu’s influence is wearing off. Thus, Thor fights furiously as the seconds tick away. Finally, with mere moments to spare, Thor manages to box Loki’s ears so hard it knocks him out. Snatching up his hammer, Thor declares victory. With Loki’s defeat, his spell over the Asgardian warriors is broken, and they hail Thor as their prince. General Sawyer and his soldiers are relieved, but Thor only feels saddened that his relationship with his brother has come to this. Soon, the warriors take Loki back to Asgard to be imprisoned, and Krista decides to return home with them. The Grand Vizier, on the other hand, elects to remain on Midgard awhile and takes a room at Avengers Mansion.
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With the crisis passed, Thor resumes spending most of his time with Jane in the hospital. Her condition continues to worsen, and Thor knows the end is near. Eventually, the thunder god learns from Jarvis that Steve Rogers has taken up the mantle of Captain America again and retrieved his costume and shield from the mansion’s storage vault. Thor is relieved that his teammate has finally sorted out his identity problems. A week or so later, Thor puts in an appearance at the Avengers’ sixth annual Christmas charity benefit, along with Iron Man, Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, and Moondragon. He then races back to the hospital to watch over the woman he loves.
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<b>Notes:</b>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>January–May 1967 –</b> Black Spectre wreaks havoc in the United States in <i>Daredevil</i> #109–112 and <i>Marvel Two-In-One</i> #3, during which the Avengers remain behind the scenes.
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<b>June 1967 –</b> Disillusioned after the Secret Empire affair, Captain America calls it quits in <i>Captain America</i> #176. Thor and the Human Torch join forces against the Lava Men in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #26. All concerned remain unaware that Jinku’s visions were projected into his mind by They Who Wield Power. Thor and his fellow superheroes fight Ultron-7 while attending the wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver in <i>Avengers</i> #127 and <i>Fantastic Four</i> #150. The Avengers’ battle with Kang the Conqueror then follows in <i>Avengers</i> #128–129 and <i>Giant-Size Avengers</i> #2. The timestream disturbances in the late 20th century that Kang refers to are the result of the “time bubble” (which stretches from 1995 to 2010) that Thor (among others) will investigate in <i>Avengers</i> #296–297 and <i>Fantastic Four</i> #337–341.
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<b>July 1967 –</b> The saga of the Celestial Madonna continues through <i>Avengers</i> #130–137 and <i>Giant-Size Avengers</i> #3–4. The creature in the labyrinth is, of course, the Frankenstein Monster—or rather a simulacrum created by Kang for his Legion of the Unliving using Immortus’s time-manipulation devices. This one is based on the Monster as he was in 1898 before entering suspended animation for the second time. Wonder Man is likewise a simulacrum based on Simon Williams just before his apparent death in 1963, and the Original Human Torch simulacrum is based on the flaming android just before he deactivated himself out in the desert in 1955. Rather than sending him into the past, the crafty Immortus merely disintegrates the fake Human Torch like the rest of the Legion of the Unliving, but the Avengers are none the wiser. It is finally revealed in <i>Avengers West Coast</i> #50 that the Vision and the Original Human Torch are two separate entities. (Later revelations to the contrary are considered non-canonical here.) When Iron Man departs from Avengers Mansion on the splash page of <i>Iron Man</i> #74, the Vision and the Scarlet Witch are erroneously shown instead of Moondragon. The bizarre weather phenomena result from Dormammu imprisoning Gaea in <i>Doctor Strange</i> v.2 #8–9. The people of Manhattan are then rendered insensate for two days by alien invaders in <i>Giant-Size Fantastic Four</i> #3.
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<b>August 1967 –</b> Earthquakes strike Manhattan in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #28, courtesy of a pair of disgruntled scientists being manipulated by They Who Wield Power. The Avengers and the Fantastic Four remain behind the scenes.
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<b>September 1967 –</b> The thunder god’s solo adventures finally resume in <i>Thor</i> #229 and following.
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<b>December 1967 –</b> Firelord’s activities during his sojourn on Earth remain largely an <b>Untold Tale of the Original Marvel Universe</b>. Presumably, he kept to himself most of the time. Steve Rogers’ return as Captain America occurs in <i>Captain America</i> #183. Loki’s failed invasion of Earth brings us up to <i>Thor</i> #234.</span>
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<i><b>Jump Back:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2019/01/omu-thor-year-five.html">Thor – Year Five</a></i>
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<i><b>Next Issue:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2022/10/omu-iron-man-year-six.html">Iron Man – Year Six</a></i>
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<br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-3993164225489686772022-03-31T22:13:00.085-05:002022-08-10T20:31:30.331-05:00OMU: Daredevil -- Year SixOver the next twelve months of his life, <b>Daredevil</b> only occasionally runs into superpowered menaces, spending most of his time in costume making life difficult for less glamorous criminals, mobsters, and street thugs. Much of his time is taken up with Matt Murdock’s duties in the office of the Manhattan district attorney. His love affair with the Black Widow continues to limp along, although they spend the year living on opposite coasts. This may, in fact, be one of the loneliest periods of Matt’s life, as he is too often isolated from the few people close to him.
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<b>Note:</b> The following timeline depicts the <b>Original Marvel Universe</b> (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2004/12/the-original-marvel-universe.html">previous posts</a> for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
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<br />
Here comes… <b>The True History of Daredevil, the Man Without Fear!</b>
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<b>January 1967 –</b> On New Year’s Day, the subversive organization Black Spectre engineers a race riot at the base of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. Police in riot gear storm the demonstrators and beat them with clubs, causing outrage across the nation and fueling further political polarization. During the fracas, Black Spectre issues a statement claiming credit for the crisis. Afterwards, Daredevil investigates but is unable to find any clues that might lead him to his quarry. In the days that follow, Matt Murdock is officially reinstated as Assistant District Attorney and manages the office while the D.A., Franklin P. “Foggy” Nelson, remains hospitalized in the intensive-care ward with injuries sustained in an assassination attempt. Matt tries to keep his old friend informed of the office’s activities, though Foggy’s girlfriend, Debbie Harris, is very protective of him. Matt tries to avoid Foggy’s younger sister, Candace Nelson, whose flirtatiousness makes him uncomfortable. He continues staying at the New York Hilton Hotel, not sure how long he’ll remain in the city due to his unresolved romantic entanglement with the California-based Black Widow. At night, Daredevil also searches the city for his old foe, the Beetle, while disrupting a variety of street-level criminal activity. Matt soon realizes how glad he is to be back in his hometown, having felt out of his element during his long sojourn in San Francisco.
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<b>February 1967 –</b> Several weeks later, Black Spectre installs a large wreathed swastika on top of the Washington Monument in the nation’s capital, soon issuing a statement claiming credit for the prank. The National Park Service has the offensive symbol removed as quickly as possible. Matt is frustrated that he’s made no real progress in his investigation into Black Spectre’s activities, either through the D.A.’s office or in his role as a superhero. To Matt’s relief, Foggy is finally moved out of intensive care, though he experiences complications that necessitate him remaining hospitalized. Between his parents, sister, girlfriend, and colleagues, Foggy has a strong support network and is able to keep his spirits up.
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<b>March 1967 –</b> Early in the month, Black Spectre drapes Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in black shrouds, as if to signify a nation in mourning. Again, the National Park Service soon has the drapery removed from the building. His investigation stalled, Matt wonders what all these relatively harmless pranks are leading up to. Unable to find any trace of the Beetle, Daredevil begins to wonder if the villain has been killed by Black Spectre agents.
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<b>April 1967 –</b> Matt is furious when Black Spectre uses some kind of laser device to carve Adolf Hitler’s face onto Mount Rushmore in South Dakota overnight. Fortunately, S.H.I.E.L.D. assists the National Park Service with restoring the monument. Slowly regaining his strength, Foggy is eager to spend more time attending to his duties as district attorney, though Matt is wary of overburdening him.
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<b>May 1967 –</b> Daredevil finally catches a break when he finds Black Spectre agents dumping large amounts of counterfeit cash—made with the government printing plates they stole last Christmas Eve—off a rooftop on Wall Street, driving thousands of people to riot in the street, nearly mad with greed as they try to grab as many of the fluttering bills as they can. To his surprise, Daredevil realizes that all of the Black Spectre agents at the scene are women, their gender hidden by their bulky uniforms and helmets but revealed by his hypersenses. They try to recruit the hero to their cause, but he ignores their outlandish rhetoric. Suddenly, the Beetle joins the fight, determined to get revenge on Black Spectre for ruining his Christmas Eve heist. Realizing they’re overmatched, the terrorists flee into the frenzied crowd and escape. The Beetle then catches Daredevil off guard and throws him into a wall, knocking him out. When he comes to, Daredevil is confused to find San Francisco Police Commissioner Robert “Ironguts” O’Hara looming over him. O’Hara explains that he has just returned to the United States from Africa, where he went to bury his murdered brother last fall, and wants to lend a hand against Black Spectre. Daredevil suggests he go meet with District Attorney Nelson at the hospital, then makes sure to beat O’Hara there and quickly change back into Matt Murdock. When O’Hara arrives, Foggy, confined to a wheelchair but able to hang out in the hospital’s solarium, shows him photo enlargements he’s had made of the scenes of Black Spectre’s recent outrages, revealing that a dirigible was present each time. They wonder why a terrorist organization would use such an unlikely mode of transport. Unexpectedly, the Commissioner’s niece, Dr. Shanna O’Hara, enters the room with two pet leopards, called Ina and Biri, and announces that the leader of Black Spectre is the same man who murdered her father last year in Africa. Gerald O’Hara, she explains, made a fortune in the African diamond trade before being kidnapped a little over a year ago by a mutant terrorist known as the Mandrill, who commanded his own private army. Shanna spent several months trying to find him, only to learn last November that her father’s body had turned up in Cape Town, South Africa. She was shocked to discover that her father’s will bequeathed all the assets of the diamond business to someone named “Hensley Fargus,” which she suspects is an alias used by the Mandrill. Though she has no proof yet, Shanna is convinced that her father’s fortune is being used to finance Black Spectre. Matt’s hypersenses tell him that Shanna is not telling all she knows, though he is intrigued by her unusually high levels of physical fitness and self-confidence. Foggy thanks her for the information and promises to follow up on it.
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The next evening, Daredevil is swinging through the city on his billy-club cable when an explosion atop a skyscraper he’s passing sends chunks of masonry raining down on the street below. Twisting to avoid the debris, Daredevil loses his grip on his billy club and falls, though he manages to save himself by grabbing onto a construction crane. Learning from a police officer that the Fantastic Four’s Baxter Building headquarters was the source of the explosion, Daredevil determines to give the superhero team a piece of his mind. In the lobby, he runs into the Thing, who has come down to see if anyone was hurt by the falling rubble. Inviting Daredevil upstairs, the Thing explains that the blast was caused by an alien man named Wundarr, who, despite his dangerous superhuman powers, has the intellect of a toddler. In the tower, Daredevil meets Wundarr and retrieves his billy club with some help from Mister Fantastic. He is intrigued by the high-tech costume Mister Fantastic has created to prevent Wundarr from being a “walking bomb” any longer and wonders why the cantankerous Thing, of all people, seems to have been made Wundarr’s primary caregiver. Daredevil then goes to meet Shanna O’Hara at her hotel room and hears again her tale of the Mandrill, still convinced that she’s withholding some vital information.
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Frustrated, Daredevil continues on to Greenwich Village, where he changes back into Matt Murdock. Matt has somewhat reluctantly agreed to accompany Candace Nelson, a graduate student at Empire State University, to a patriotic avant-garde stage play called <i>America Shall Endure</i>. Along with the rest of the audience, Matt and Candace are horrified when an actor dressed as Captain America savagely beats another actor playing a Civil War-era slave, only to be shot dead by a third actor portraying Adolf Hitler. That actor then shoots himself in the head, blowing his brains all over the stage, before Matt can even decide what to do. The audience panics and stampedes out of the theater, so Matt takes advantage of the chaos and allows himself to be separated from Candace. He then changes into Daredevil and pursues a Black Spectre agent out the stage door into an alley behind the theater, realizing the terrorist must have somehow hypnotized the actors to cause the bloodbath. Unfortunately, he is ambushed by Natasha Romanoff, who helps the terrorist escape in the organization’s dirigible. Daredevil is bewildered, wondering if the Black Widow could possibly be so angry at him for leaving her last Christmas Eve that she would join a group like Black Spectre. Intent on finding out, he races back to the Baxter Building and tries to commandeer the Fantasti-Car. He is stopped by the Thing, but after learning of the dire situation, the Thing agrees to join him in his pursuit of the dirigible. When the two heroes catch up to the villains’ airship, though, they discover it is actually a jet aircraft disguised as a dirigible. The Thing smashes his way through the airship’s electrified hull and starts fighting with Natasha, numerous Black Spectre agents, and a mutant woman calling herself Nekra, Priestess of Darkness. By the time Daredevil drops into the vessel as well, the Thing has battled his way into another room. Nekra and the Black Widow team up against Daredevil and quickly knock him out. Regaining consciousness, Daredevil finds himself and the dazed Thing plunging toward the ground in the Fantasti-Car. He manages to get the vehicle’s engines restarted and pull it out of its nose-dive, giving the Thing the chance to come to and bring it to a safe landing on the New Jersey Palisades. On the way back to Manhattan, the Thing reveals that he saw the face of Black Spectre’s leader, and it was not recognizably human—lending credence to Shanna’s assertion that the organization is led by the Mandrill. Frustrated that they lost the fight, the Thing is ready to go back for round two, but Daredevil insists that he’s more effective when he works alone.
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Around midnight, Daredevil manages to capture two Black Spectre agents whom he finds running through a back alley. His hypersenses confirm that they, like all the others, are women. He calls the police and has the terrorists taken in for questioning. While the pair is being interrogated, Daredevil phones Commissioner O’Hara at his hotel and asks him and Shanna to come down to the station. The frustrated cops then inform Daredevil that the suspects have refused to say a word since being brought in. Daredevil is surprised when one cop mentions that both women have strange tattoos on their faces, but he tries to cover up the fact that he was unaware of something a sighted person would find glaringly obvious. No sooner have the O’Haras entered the station (with the two leopards) than the interrogation room is blown apart by a tremendous explosion. The charred remains of the two terrorists are found in the rubble, and it is determined that they committed suicide rather than betray their compatriots. Exhausted, Daredevil heads back to his hotel to get some sleep. However, he is surprised to find the Mandrill there, waiting for him along with another of his female agents. Chortling, the Mandrill reveals that the Black Widow has informed the terrorists of Daredevil’s secret identity. The hero is shocked by this betrayal, but the Mandrill explains that both he and Nekra are mutants, their parents having been exposed to radiation while working on the Manhattan Project. Ostracized for the early manifestations of their mutations, the pair met as young runaways and, upon coming into their full powers as teenagers, decided to strike back at the society that had rejected them for being different. Over time, the Mandrill realized that, in addition to his monkey-like appearance, he had the power to mentally dominate women and bend them to his will—including Nekra. Daredevil realizes with some relief that this is how they managed to get Natasha to join their organization and reveal his secrets. Having heard enough, Daredevil attacks his foe, and their battle carries them down to the busy sidewalk on W. 53rd St. When police arrive on the scene, the Mandrill decides to retreat. Daredevil is unable to pursue him as the jostling crowd moves in, overwhelming his hypersenses.
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Daredevil then pays a visit to Shanna, rousting her and her leopards out of bed. She summons her uncle from his adjoining room, whereupon Daredevil confirms her suspicion that the Mandrill is the leader of Black Spectre and reveals what he’s learned about the villains’ mutant powers. Thoroughly exhausted, he suggests they meet with Foggy at the hospital in the morning to decide what to do next. He then swings off on his billy-club cable, only to be immediately ambushed by an armored Japanese swordsman calling himself the Silver Samurai. Daredevil is shocked as his foe’s sword effortlessly cuts through stone walls and iron lampposts. He realizes that, due to his fatigue, it’s all he can do to avoid getting killed. Fortunately, Ina and Biri leap into the fray, with Shanna close behind. Working together, they are able to force the Silver Samurai to retreat, and Daredevil is very impressed with Shanna’s athletic prowess. She is eager to pursue the villain, but Daredevil insists on getting some sleep first.
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Thus, several hours later, Daredevil meets up with the O’Haras and Foggy in the hospital solarium, where Shanna admits to withholding information because she wanted to deal with the Mandrill herself. However, she now realizes that his mutant power to control women makes that impossible. Shanna explains that she has battled Nekra before—in fact, Nekra murdered her boyfriend—and during the months she was searching for the villains in hopes of rescuing her father, she was working closely with an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and they found evidence that the Silver Samurai was working for the Mandrill. As if on cue, the Silver Samurai then crashes through the solarium windows, accompanied by several Black Spectre agents. They kidnap Shanna after stunning her leopards, and though Daredevil makes a valiant attempt to stop them, he gets knocked out by Nekra. After regaining consciousness, he changes into Matt Murdock and returns to the solarium. There, Candace informs him that Foggy is back in his private room and Commissioner O’Hara is being treated for minor injuries. Needing some time to recover from the battle himself, Matt invites Candace to the hospital coffee shop and learns that she has gotten herself into some kind of trouble at school, though she refuses to discuss it.
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At dusk, Daredevil finds Black Spectre’s phony dirigible hovering over the Empire State Building, where the Silver Samurai and several female agents are sabotaging the 200-foot TV transmission tower on the roof. Daredevil confronts them but quickly realizes he is badly outnumbered. He decides to storm the aircraft instead and confront the Mandrill directly. While climbing up the ship’s rope ladder, he senses the transmission tower crashing to the street below, killing several people on impact. Nekra climbs down the ladder to deal with him, but Daredevil evades her using his gymnastic skills. He climbs into the ship, only to be immediately attacked by the Mandrill and kept busy until Nekra can climb back up and knock him out again with a karate chop. Daredevil comes to later and finds himself being held prisoner alongside the unconscious Shanna somewhere within the airship. He overhears the Mandrill telling Nekra that he plans to dissect Daredevil’s brain to find out how his radar sense works. The villain is also intent on discovering why Shanna is immune to his influence, a revelation Daredevil finds interesting. When the pair has left the area, Daredevil pleads with the Black Widow to set him free, but she refuses. When Shanna comes to, she suggests that an emotional shock might overcome the Mandrill’s influence, so Daredevil reminds Natasha of their contentious parting last Christmas Eve. The gambit succeeds and Natasha releases Daredevil and Shanna, leading them to where all the Black Spectre jetpacks are stored. After Natasha has rigged the jetpacks’ fuel source to explode, she, Daredevil, and Shanna fly out of the ship, discovering that it is now hovering above the White House in Washington, D.C. Daredevil senses a large simian-shaped idol on the lawn with a blazing cauldron in its lap. Numerous Black Spectre agents have shed their bulky uniforms and are dancing around the idol. A contingent of soldiers have them surrounded but aren’t taking any action for some reason.
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The three heroes crash into the Oval Office, where they find the Mandrill seated at the President’s desk. Daredevil attacks him immediately while the Black Widow takes on Nekra and Shanna deals with some of their agents. The battle soon leads the two men up to the roof, where the Mandrill manages to gain the upper hand. Luckily, he is distracted when the phony dirigible blows up and crashes to the ground, enabling Daredevil to break the villain’s grip and kick him off the roof. Convinced that the Mandrill must have broken his neck when he landed, Daredevil races back to the Oval Office. He is relieved to find that the Black Widow has already defeated Nekra, who was likewise distracted by the exploding airship. Shanna is furious when no trace of the Mandrill’s body can be found, and she castigates Daredevil for not verifying that he was dead, thus allowing her father’s killer to escape. The Black Widow tries to comfort Shanna, and Daredevil feels terrible. The soldiers finally move in and take the remaining Black Spectre agents into custody. Due to her dangerous mutant powers, Nekra is remanded into the custody of S.H.I.E.L.D. Daredevil is further dispirited when the Army general overseeing the mopping-up operation suggests that the proper response to the incident is further mistrust and oppression of those who are different—the very attitude that drove the Mandrill and Nekra to a life of crime in the first place.
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A few days later, Foggy is finally released from the hospital, although Debbie continues to fuss over him. Matt then takes Natasha, Shanna, and Commissioner O’Hara to the airport for their flight back to California. At the gate, Matt suggests he may move back to San Francisco eventually, after he helps Foggy get the district attorney’s office back on track following his extended hospitalization. After the O’Haras have boarded the plane, Matt and Natasha bid each other an awkward farewell, as neither can quite find the words to express their feelings. Finally, Natasha just kisses Matt, then turns and boards the plane without another word. He is left reeling with conflicting emotions.
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<b>June 1967 –</b> Following the kidnapping of Gail Callan, the teenaged daughter of a wealthy industrialist, the kidnappers demand that Assistant District Attorney Matt Murdock deliver the ransom, since he is blind and won’t be able to identify them. However, Matt’s hypersenses soon reveal the villains to be his old foes, the animal-themed Unholy Three. After handing the ransom over to Cat-Man, Matt changes into Daredevil and follows him, hoping he’ll lead him to where Ape-Man and Bird-Man are holding Gail. Unfortunately, Spider-Man interferes, mistaking Cat-Man for a burglar. Thus, Daredevil picks a fight with the web-slinger, to prevent him from apprehending the crook. Once Cat-Man has fled the scene, Daredevil stops the fight and explains the situation. Spider-Man agrees to team up with Daredevil to rescue Gail, whereupon they track Cat-Man to Steeplechase Park, a closed-down section of the Coney Island amusement complex. While Daredevil keeps the Unholy Three busy, Spider-Man sneaks Gail out and carries her to safety. The heroes quickly defeat Bird-Man and Cat-Man, but Ape-Man manages to grab Gail again and take her to the top of a roller coaster. Spider-Man sends the roller coaster cars crashing into Ape-Man, causing him to drop the terrified Gail into Daredevil’s arms. After webbing up the Unholy Three and summoning the police, Spider-Man departs. Daredevil makes sure that both Gail and the ransom are safely returned to her father.
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When Candace Nelson is kidnapped by the Gladiator, Matt and Foggy learn that she was grabbed while being arrested by the FBI; the Gladiator nearly killed the two FBI agents and stole a set of papers that were the subject of the federal investigation. Matt remembers Candace mentioning some trouble at school, so he heads over to Empire State University and questions her mentor, journalism professor Charles Laing, who reveals that Candace was working on an exposé about the school’s involvement in questionable military research during the 1950s. She had discovered files in the university archives relating to a top-secret project dubbed Operation: Sulfur, led by a member of the chemistry faculty named Theodore Sallis. Dr. Sallis was apparently trying to develop a serum that would alter human biochemistry to allow people to survive even the most toxic industrial pollution—in effect by mutating them into pollution-breathing monsters. Sallis eventually turned against the project and had it shut down. Matt is frustrated to learn that Sallis disappeared a couple years ago while working on a new project in the Florida Everglades, but he reasons that the Gladiator may try to track down Sallis as well, if he’s interested in the Operation: Sulfur research. Thus, Matt decides to head down to Florida at once, after checking in with Foggy.
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Arriving in Citrusville, Florida—where Sallis was last seen—a few hours later, Matt meets radio disc jockey Richard Rory, who has done some reporting on Sallis’s disappearance. Rory reveals that Sallis’s abandoned laboratory out in the swamp was the site of a mysterious triple-murder just two months ago, but then he starts going on about the local swamp monster, known as the “Man-Thing,” claiming to have seen the creature himself. Incredulous, Matt has Rory drive him out to the lab, which turns out to be little more than a wooden shack. There, Matt’s hypersenses immediately detect both the Gladiator and Candace within the dilapidated structure. Unfortunately, the Gladiator comes charging out and attacks them, knocking Rory unconscious. Matt is able to dash into the trees and change into Daredevil, but the fight does not go well—his leg is injured and he is knocked out when his foe’s wrist-mounted buzzsaws send a heavy branch crashing down on him. Coming to several minutes later, Daredevil is shocked to find the Man-Thing, a hulking creature made of muck and slime, struggling with the Gladiator. Where the monster is touching his bare flesh, the Gladiator’s skin is burning, producing a horrible smell. Nearby stands a wraith-like figure whom the Gladiator calls Death-Stalker—mostly just a blur to Daredevil’s radar sense, with no discernable heartbeat. When Death-Stalker causes the Man-Thing to collapse to the ground with a mere touch of his hand, Daredevil pounces on the phantom and tries to punch him in the face. To his shock, Daredevil discovers there is nothing under his foe’s hat but a void of numbing cold. Laughing, Death-Stalker easily avoids Daredevil’s clumsy follow-up attacks and renders the hero unconscious just by laying a hand on his shoulder.
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Daredevil is relieved to regain consciousness sometime later, for he felt as if he were dying. However, he finds himself and Rory tied to chairs inside Sallis’s shack, which is burning down. There is no sign of Death-Stalker or Candace, so Daredevil quickly frees himself and carries the still-unconscious Rory out of the collapsing building. He then senses the Man-Thing lurking nearby, with the Gladiator—also knocked out cold—in its arms. Daredevil approaches cautiously, but the monster makes no move against him. It merely drops the Gladiator to the ground and shambles back into the swamp. Mystified, Daredevil loads Rory and the Gladiator into the disc jockey’s Volkswagen bus and drives them to the Citrusville hospital, where he changes back into Matt Murdock and has his leg treated. Gladiator’s burns are likewise treated before he is taken into custody by the sheriff. Rory finally comes to and, after being treated for a concussion and minor smoke inhalation, is released. Confused by the day’s events, Rory wishes Matt luck in tracking down the kidnapped girl. Matt finds a payphone and calls Foggy, but when his old friend mentions Daredevil being in Florida, Matt realizes that Death-Stalker must now be holding both Nelson siblings prisoner. Worried, Matt hurries back to the Miami airport and catches the next flight to New York. There, Daredevil finds Foggy and Candace tied up in Foggy’s apartment and manages to drive Death-Stalker off with the help of a passing police officer.
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After bringing Foggy up to date on the strange events in Florida, Matt convinces him to stash Candace in a hotel room rather than turning her over to the FBI, arguing that her life will be in danger as long as Death-Stalker knows where she is, given the villain’s ghost-like abilities. Foggy relents and goes to confer with the federal authorities, leaving Candace with Matt at his hotel. Candace again flirts with Matt, but when he gets irritated, she explains that she’s just trying to keep from being overwhelmed by the situation. As they discuss the case, Candace reveals that the Operation: Sulfur papers show that Sallis expected his test subjects to be immune to germ warfare as well as pollution, whereupon Matt realizes that Death-Stalker must be trying to sell the research on the black market. Determined not to let that happen, Matt makes up an excuse to step out, then changes into Daredevil and sets off in search of his foe. After a few hours, he finds him inside a chemical factory in Queens belonging to Osborn Laboratories, Inc. Though the facility has been shut down since Norman Osborn’s death last year, Daredevil detects activity within. Sure enough, the hero locates Death-Stalker and a gun-toting chemist on a catwalk above a huge vat of hydrochloric acid. After a deadly game of cat-and-mouse, Daredevil causes Death-Stalker to plunge into the vat of acid, losing his billy club in the process. He then disarms the villain’s accomplice and tosses his pistol into the acid as well, along with the file of Sallis’s research, knowingly destroying the evidence in the government’s case against Candace. He justifies his action by telling himself that the papers were too dangerous to fall into the wrong hands. Realizing that he didn’t actually hear Death-Stalker being dissolved by the acid, Daredevil wonders if his foe managed to escape.
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Returning to his hotel at dawn, Matt informs Foggy and Candace that Death-Stalker died fighting Daredevil and the Sallis papers were destroyed in the melee. To his surprise, Candace is upset by the news, since she won’t be able to do her exposé now. Foggy is relieved, however, and he and Matt spend the rest of the day in the office of the federal prosecutor arranging for the charges against Candace to be dropped. Then, following a worrisome phone call from Natasha, Matt catches a red-eye flight out to San Francisco. As Daredevil, he heads back to the north shore mansion they once shared, only to discover that the owner has evicted Natasha and Ivan for failing to pay the rent. While searching the city for the Russian expatriates, Daredevil comes across two gun-toting thugs menacing innocent bystanders and tackles them. During the ensuing brawl, the Black Widow shows up and lends a hand. With the gunmen subdued, Daredevil and the Black Widow embrace and kiss with surprising passion as the crowd around them cheers and applauds. Unfortunately, one of the thugs manages to slip away while the heroes are thus distracted. After a little while, they give up looking for him and start discussing Natasha’s financial woes. She explains that she has depleted her savings, having been unable to find gainful employment due to her notoriety, and so for the past week she and Ivan have been living out of her Rolls-Royce. Shocked, Daredevil insists that he would have helped her out if she’d let him know, but she insists that she’s been too proud to ask for his help until now. Suddenly, they are attacked by the Owl, who is backed up by a gang of armed henchmen in a helicopter. As it turns out, the two thugs whom the heroes beat up earlier were in the Owl’s employ, working as part of a protection racket he’s been running in the city. The Owl manages to poison Daredevil, and before losing consciousness, he senses the Black Widow being gunned down by the men in the helicopter.
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When he regains consciousness sometime later, Daredevil finds himself strapped to a metal table in the Owl’s secret lair. His thoughts are muddled, and he overhears the villain and his henchmen discussing some kind of mind-probe they have subjected him to, using a device that has since been damaged by the Black Widow. Daredevil is relieved to know that Natasha is still alive. Then, the Black Widow enters, carrying Shanna O’Hara in her arms—apparently having made a deal with the Owl to kidnap her in exchange for Daredevil’s freedom. However, Daredevil can tell that Shanna is merely feigning unconsciousness. Unsurprisingly, the Owl attempts to double-cross the Black Widow, at which point Shanna springs into action, using karate against the henchmen and freeing Daredevil from his bonds. The Owl activates jets of tear gas concealed in the floor, but Daredevil nevertheless manages to punch the villain into his mind-probe machine, completely demolishing it. The Owl then tries to escape, but with the help of a couple of death-defying leaps, Daredevil captures him. Afterwards, Daredevil is pleased when Ivan Petrovich turns up with Lt. Paul Carson of the San Francisco Police Department. He and Carson take some time to get caught up while the Owl and his henchmen are taken into custody. Over the next few days, Matt and Natasha spend some quality time together while Ivan uses his mechanical engineering skills to build Daredevil a sophisticated new billy club. Finally, Daredevil and the Black Widow say goodbye to each other atop the Golden Gate Bridge. He asks her again to come back to New York with him, but she refuses, feeling it’s important that she maintain her independence despite being in love with him. For both of them, it’s a painful parting.
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Back in Manhattan, Matt pays a visit to the Waldorf Astoria hotel to give an official warning to a trio of San Francisco-based martial arts experts—Lin Sun, Abe Brown, and Bob Diamond—who have been linked to recent acts of large-scale destruction on the west coast. However, as he is approaching their suite, the three men come charging out and race to the elevator. Matt senses about half-a-dozen unconscious ninja assassins on the floor of their hotel room and is impressed by the trio’s fighting prowess. A few hours later, a section of the Queensboro Bridge is bombed and collapses, though there’s no evidence tying Sun, Brown, and Diamond to the disaster.
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<b>July 1967 –</b> Daredevil continues his crimefighting crusade in New York City, though he finds himself second-guessing his decision to leave San Francisco and Natasha. He foils a plot by the Circus of Crime to rob their audience using a colony of bats controlled by their newest member, a man called Blackwing. The Ringmaster, Princess Python, Ernesto and Luigi Gambonno, and the Human Cannonball are among those taken into custody, though Blackwing manages to escape. Matt and Foggy are frustrated when Princess Python immediately breaks out of prison.
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On a rooftop one evening, Daredevil is recruited for a mission to save the world by Nighthawk, whom he remembers as a fraudulent superhero he fought with a couple years ago. Nighthawk insists that he is now a bona fide hero and works with a team called the Defenders, which has so far kept its existence a secret. Though Daredevil is dubious, his hypersenses tell him that Nighthawk is not lying, therefore he agrees to help. Immediately, they are both teleported onto a large platform drifting in a void, where the Sub-Mariner, Doctor Strange, the Hulk, and a woman who calls herself the Valkyrie are waiting for them. An alien known as the Grandmaster then explains that the Defenders are to serve as his pawns in a game against a mystery opponent, with the fate of the earth hanging in the balance—if they win, the world will be left alone; if they lose, the human race will be enslaved; and if they refuse to cooperate, the planet will be destroyed. Daredevil is intrigued when the Grandmaster mentions that he gave Nighthawk his powers when forming a team called the Squadron Sinister to battle the Avengers in a similar game some years ago. While the Grandmaster is making his preparations, Nighthawk describes the alien as a “galactic gambling addict.” Soon, Daredevil and the Sub-Mariner are teleported to a highly volcanic world that stinks of sulfur, where they are supposed to fight two strange-looking aliens to the death. The chaotic environment wreaks havoc with Daredevil’s hypersenses, and almost immediately he is thrown into a magma geyser and incinerated.
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A moment later, however, Daredevil finds himself resurrected on a small space station, where he is reunited with the Defenders. The Grandmaster declares himself the victor in the contest, but decides to renege on his pledge, believing Earth can provide him with generations of gladiators for his amusement. Outraged, the Defenders attack him, only to be easily brushed aside. Daredevil decides to try a different tack and, remembering Nighthawk’s words, goads the Grandmaster into wagering Earth’s freedom on a simple coin toss. Thus, Daredevil pries a metal disk off a bank of machinery and scratches an X on one side. As he flips it into the air, though, he uses his hypersenses to ensure that he wins the toss. The Grandmaster graciously accepts defeat and teleports the heroes back to New York City. Doctor Strange expresses his gratitude to Daredevil, though he has some reservations about risking the fate of the human race on the toss of a coin. Chuckling to himself, Daredevil assures the Defenders that the outcome was never in doubt.
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Later, Matt is shocked to wake up and discover that everyone in New York City has been unconscious for two days. Reports of strange occurrences start coming in from around the globe, but then the Fantastic Four announce that it was all part of an alien invasion plot that they have foiled.
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<b>August 1967 –</b> Matt is elated to receive a somewhat cryptic telegram from Natasha informing him that she’s planning to return to New York before the end of the year. She just needs a few months, she says, to straighten out her finances and settle her debts in San Francisco. Later, at the district attorney’s office, Matt learns that Candace is heading to Washington, D.C. for the next few months, to serve as the star witness in a congressional investigation into Operation: Sulfur. Candace is clearly excited to get her chance to expose the horrific research project, hoping to prevent other such abuses of science. Afterwards, Matt returns to his old neighborhood, Hell’s Kitchen, to meet with “Pop” Fenton, his dad’s old boxing trainer, at Fogwell’s Gym. Fenton explains that he got a grant to convert the gym into a non-profit afterschool sports center for the neighborhood teens. He and his former protege, Kid Gawaine, who has given up boxing to study for the Catholic priesthood, then tell Matt about a promising bantamweight boxer named Juan Aponte, who has become the subject of unethical augmentation experiments conducted by a former city coroner, Dr. Jakkelburr. The experiments are apparently based on research Jakkelburr carried out on the corpse of the Crusher, a mutated Cuban strongman who died fighting Iron Man three years ago. They are concerned because the treatments seem to be altering Aponte’s personality and making him dangerous. Matt offers them some legal advice, but then Aponte and Jakkelburr turn up, accompanied by some hired thugs, intent on preventing Fenton and Gawaine from interfering with Aponte’s first heavyweight bout that night. In the ensuing scuffle, Matt allows himself to be shoved into the locker room, where he changes into Daredevil. The hero then confronts Aponte, who has transformed into a 12-foot giant with superhuman strength. Their battle wrecks the old building, and Aponte is mortally wounded when he impulsively saves Fenton and Gawaine from a collapsing wall. Reverting to his normal form, the dying Aponte apologizes for his rampage, saying he couldn’t control himself after his transformation. Sympathetic, Daredevil captures Jakkelburr and his thugs and turns them over to the police.
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When Manhattan is rocked by a series of unnatural earthquakes, Daredevil heads out to help rescue people from damaged buildings. Though the earthquakes seem to have two epicenters—one in Washington Heights at the north end of the island and the other in the Financial District on the island’s southern tip—Daredevil focuses his efforts on the southern zone, which is closer to the district attorney’s offices. There, he senses Iron Man, Hawkeye, and the Fantastic Four have also joined in the rescue efforts.
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Matt is curious when the American Museum of Natural History announces a gala opening of their new exhibit—the Man-Thing. The day after the opening, though, Matt learns that the creature became so agitated that it broke out of its enclosure and took off down the street. The Man-Thing made it as far as Columbus Circle, where it collapsed into the fountain. The museum then made arrangements to have the monster shipped back to the Florida Everglades, with help from Stark International. Remembering his recent encounter with the Man-Thing, Matt thinks it’s for the best that it be left alone in its natural habitat.
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<b>September–November 1967 –</b> Daredevil continues to plague New York City’s criminal underworld, focusing mainly on street crime. Confident that he won’t be returning to San Francisco, Matt finally moves out of the New York Hilton Hotel and into a brownstone in the Lennox Hill neighborhood on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. His new place is near the Queensboro Bridge, which has been undergoing reconstruction since the summer, and is not too far from Avengers Mansion, where, he learns, Moondragon has been staying. Though tempted, Matt decides not to look her up, anticipating Natasha’s arrival.
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<b>December 1967 –</b> For about 18 hours, Daredevil finds himself trapped within a force-field bubble. Try as he might, he is unable to escape. Finally, the force field vanishes as mysteriously as it appeared. He then learns that while he was trapped, Loki led an invasion force of Asgardian warriors against Washington, D.C., only to be repelled by Thor and the U.S. Army.
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On New Year’s Eve, Matt goes to LaGuardia Airport to pick up Natasha and Ivan. Their reunion is disrupted by a gang of machine gun-toting terrorist hijackers, but Daredevil and the Black Widow quickly beat them senseless in the baggage claim area. Leaving Ivan to deal with the luggage, the two costumed lovers head out into the falling snow to discuss their relationship. Though reluctant at first, Natasha finally opens up and admits that she doesn’t like feeling like Daredevil’s sidekick when they’re out fighting crime together. He is disturbed by the thought that Natasha believes their love affair is eroding her sense of fierce independence and decides to change the subject. Entering his new apartment, Daredevil pulls out his tuxedo and tells Natasha to change into something sexy for a swanky New Year’s Eve party. When Ivan finally arrives, he grumbles about changing into a tuxedo as well but complies when Natasha insists. Matt is nervous, knowing that the party is being hosted by Foggy, against whom Natasha still holds a grudge for prosecuting her on a false murder charge. When they arrive at Foggy’s apartment and are greeted by his fiancée, Debbie Harris, Natasha gets angry and nearly storms out before Matt stops her. He insists that Foggy deeply regrets what happened and was being manipulated by the villain Mister Kline—and very nearly resigned as D.A. as a result. Ivan urges Natasha to let bygones be bygones, and she finally agrees to remain at the party for Matt’s sake. Noticing that Natasha is standing beneath some mistletoe, Foggy approaches her sheepishly and offers his apologies. Before Natasha can respond, a horde of HYDRA agents crashes through the windows.
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The HYDRA agents spray a sedative gas around the apartment, knocking out most of the guests, including Ivan and Debbie. Matt bolts into a bedroom and changes into Daredevil, his hypersenses revealing that the leader of the HYDRA commando squad is a Hispanic man calling himself the Jaguar and they are there to kidnap Foggy. Daredevil swings back into the apartment through another window and attacks the Jaguar, ducking under his slashing claws to turn out the lights. Unfortunately, the Jaguar is able to see in the dark, and their furious battle quickly trashes Foggy’s apartment. Daredevil finally gains the upper hand, only to be distracted by the arrival of Nick Fury, along with over a dozen of his S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. The Jaguar smashes down the front door and flees, but Fury insists that his agents will apprehend him. However, Contessa Valentina Allegra de La Fontaine soon enters and reports that the Jaguar slipped through their security perimeter, as they were not prepared for his superhuman speed. Daredevil is irate that Fury’s agents let their foe get away. Foggy and Debbie are confused as to why they would be targeted by HYDRA, so Fury explains that S.H.I.E.L.D. is considering Foggy for its new board of directors. The agency is being reorganized, he reveals, and will no longer be under the direct command of the President of the United States. Several candidates for the new board of directors are being considered, chosen from various sectors of public service. Foggy is honored but says he’ll need to think it over. Debbie is worried about HYDRA attacking them again, but Fury insists S.H.I.E.L.D. can protect them. When Ivan wonders aloud where Matt has gotten to, Daredevil takes the hint and swings off, wishing Foggy good luck. He then sneaks back in through the bedroom window, changes out of his costume, and rejoins the others, claiming to have been knocked out during the fight. Fury and his agents take Foggy to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters to debrief him for a few hours, leaving a small detachment to guard Debbie. Matt, Natasha, and Ivan say goodnight and head back to Matt’s townhouse. After dropping off the two lovers, Ivan drives back to keep an eye on Foggy’s apartment building. Happy to be reunited at last, Matt and Natasha ring in the new year together.
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<b>Notes:</b>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>January–May 1967 –</b> Daredevil’s adventures continue in <i>Daredevil</i> #109 and following. Black Spectre’s activities cover significantly more time than is apparent in the story as written. Daredevil teams up with the Thing, learns of Shanna O’Hara’s recent ordeal, attends the ill-fated stage play, encounters the Black Widow, and meets Nekra in <i>Marvel Two-in-One</i> #3. Presumably, the hypnotized actors were not performing <i>America Shall Endure</i> as written, but were forced into a catastrophic sort of improv. Shanna’s tale recounts the events of her short-lived series <i>Shanna the She-Devil</i>, part of Marvel’s half-hearted attempt to expand their female readership. Her immunity to the Mandrill’s influence is probably due to the inhabiting spirit known as the Queen of the Pride that she inherited from her mother (as revealed in <i>Marvel Fanfare</i> #59). In addition to destroying the TV transmission tower atop the Empire State Building, Black Spectre agents also sabotage similar media infrastructure across the country, disrupting television broadcasts nationwide, as well as cutting long-distance telephone lines and jamming shortwave radio frequencies. Furthermore, the Mandrill tells the U.S. military, S.H.I.E.L.D., the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four that he has an atomic bomb ready to destroy New York City should they interfere with his plans to overthrow the federal government—a claim eventually revealed to be a hoax. The Mandrill does indeed escape at the end and flees with some of his thralls to South America. The disposition of the unconscious Nekra is revealed in the flashback in <i>Spider-Woman</i> #16.
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<b>June 1967 –</b> Daredevil and Spider-Man join forces against the Unholy Three in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #25. The triple-homicide in Ted Sallis’s swamp shack takes place in the Man-Thing text story in <i>Monsters Unleashed</i> #8–9. Daredevil is unaware that he battled Death-Stalker three years ago, when the villain was known as the Exterminator, as chronicled in <i>Daredevil</i> #39–41. The explosion that seemingly killed the Exterminator actually left him partially phased into an interdimensional limbo, where he mutated into the Death-Stalker. Matt’s brief encounter with the Sons of the Tiger occurs in <i>Deadly Hands of Kung Fu</i> #8.
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<b>July 1967 –</b> Princess Python’s jailbreak is revealed in <i>Captain America</i> #180. Daredevil teams up with the Defenders for the contest between the Grandmaster and Doctor Doom’s Prime Mover robot in <i>Giant-Size Defenders</i> #3, where he and the Sub-Mariner are handily defeated by Dumog the Fomalhauti and Teju the Reptoid. The people of Manhattan are then rendered insensate for 48 hours by alien invaders in <i>Giant-Size Fantastic Four</i> #3, in which Matt Murdock remains behind the scenes.
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<b>August 1967 –</b> Interestingly, it’s entirely possible that Dr. Jakkelburr’s research on the Crusher formed the basis for Karl Malus’s later augmentation work for Power Broker, Inc. Earthquakes strike Manhattan in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #28, courtesy of a pair of disgruntled scientists being manipulated by They Who Wield Power. The Man-Thing makes his New York City debut in <i>Giant-Size Man-Thing</i> #2. Matt again remains behind the scenes.
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<b>December 1967 –</b> Various superheroes are seen trapped within Loki’s magical spheres in <i>Thor</i> #233. Nick Fury’s attempt to recruit Foggy Nelson brings us up to <i>Daredevil</i> #121. The reorganization of S.H.I.E.L.D. is likely in response to last year’s Secret Empire plot, which involved their leader becoming President of the United States, as detailed in <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2005/02/omu-potus-part-three.html">OMU: POTUS – Part Three</a>.</span>
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<i><b>Jump Back:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2018/08/omu-daredevil-year-five.html">Daredevil – Year Five</a></i>
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<i><b>Next Issue:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2022/08/omu-thor-year-six.html">Thor – Year Six</a></i>
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<br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-79552805767623405342022-02-18T12:12:00.070-06:002022-04-02T23:28:06.285-05:00OMU: Captain America -- Year SixThe career of <b>Captain America</b> goes sideways during the next twelve months of his life as writer Steve Englehart digs deep into who Steve Rogers is and what makes him tick. Utterly disillusioned after discovering that the President of the United States was at the center of a conspiracy to turn the nation into a fascist dictatorship, the hero abandons his patriotic identity to become a bitter loner called Nomad, the Man Without a Country. This alienates him from his partner, the Falcon; his lover, Sharon Carter; and his colleagues in the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D., forcing him to explore and re-evaluate his personal philosophy. The storyline ran for an impressive eight issues before the status quo was restored to mark the character’s 34th anniversary. Englehart closes the Nomad saga with his summation of the overarching theme of the <b>Original Marvel Universe</b> at this point: “There are many risings and advancings of the spirit.”
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<b>Note:</b> The following timeline depicts the Original Marvel Universe (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2004/12/the-original-marvel-universe.html">previous posts</a> for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
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Continuing on with... <b>The True History of Captain America!</b>
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<b>January–April 1967 –</b> Burdened by the revelations from the recent Secret Empire fiasco, Steve Rogers continues performing routine duties as Captain America, though his heart is no longer in it. He attends Avengers meetings, works out in the team’s training facilities, and occasionally visits with the convalescent Whizzer—a former teammate from World War II whom he barely remembers due to the lingering effects of his post-cryogenic amnesia. Feeling the other Avengers don’t understand what he’s going through, Steve prefers to spend his nights sleeping on a cot in the office in Harlem where Sam Wilson, a.k.a. the Falcon, performs his day job as a social worker. He grows increasingly bitter about the way the public turned against him as a result of the Secret Empire’s smear campaign, believing that all the charity work and public service he’s performed over the last four years should have earned him the benefit of the doubt. He wonders if people have just come to take Captain America for granted, devaluing his heroism. On the other hand, old-fashioned hero worship has proven to have a dark side—all the corrupt politicians in league with the Secret Empire won the respect and admiration of a broad swath of the American public. Plus, no longer united by a common enemy like the Nazis, he realizes, Americans have slowly fragmented into squabbling factions, resulting in several competing notions of what the nation stands for. How is he supposed to embody such diverse, often mutually exclusive ideals?
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Steve is infuriated when the subversive organization Black Spectre continually gets away with carrying out offensive pranks and outrageous sabotage, such as inciting a race riot at the Statue of Liberty, installing a swastika atop the Washington Monument, draping Philadelphia’s Independence Hall in black shrouds, and carving Adolf Hitler’s face into Mount Rushmore. S.H.I.E.L.D., which assists the government with repairing all the damage, assures Steve that it’s doing all it can to stop Black Spectre.
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<b>May 1967 –</b> The situation with Black Spectre goes from bad to worse when they claim to have an atomic bomb hidden somewhere under Manhattan, which they threaten to detonate if the Avengers interfere with their overthrow of the U.S. government. Soon after, the terrorist group invades Washington, D.C. and storms the White House, only to be defeated by Daredevil and the Black Widow. The bomb threat turns out to be a hoax. Steve is relieved, but the incident makes him wonder if Captain America is really even needed anymore.
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Steve takes a Sunday stroll through Central Park with his girlfriend, former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter, with whom he’s been spending a lot more time lately. Finding that several large animals have been set loose in the zoo, Steve dutifully changes into Captain America to check it out. However, he quickly discovers that the Thing has the situation well in hand. Inviting the couple back to the Baxter Building for coffee, the Thing explains that the commotion was caused by his young charge, Wundarr, a super-powered alien with the body of an adult and the mind of a toddler. Fortunately, the Sub-Mariner’s cousin Namorita and her college roommate have agreed to take responsibility for Wundarr, to the Thing’s great relief. When they arrive at the Fantastic Four’s headquarters, Cap and Sharon are greeted by Mister Fantastic and Medusa, who are performing maintenance on the team’s time machine. An accident causes a young woman named Tarin to materialize from the year 3014. Cap is horrified by Tarin’s tale of how she has spent the last seven years as a slave of the Badoon, vicious aliens who conquered the solar system, wiping out most of the human race in the process. The few humans who survive in slavery remember Captain America, she reveals, as a symbol of liberty and hope. In fact, the leaders of the resistance movement, known as “the Guardians of the Galaxy,” have even named their spaceship after him. Feeling personally invested in Tarin’s plight, as it reminds him of all those who suffered under Nazi domination during World War II, Cap asks to accompany Tarin back to the future. Sharon and the Thing eagerly volunteer as well. Uncertain of the dangers involved, Mister Fantastic offers them 24 hours in the future for a scouting mission. After briefing them on the time machine’s operation, Mister Fantastic sends Cap, Sharon, the Thing, and Tarin to the New York City of the 31st century.
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Unfortunately, the three time-travelers are almost immediately captured by an armed patrol of zombie-like police—humans altered by the Badoon so they can neither feel pain nor be knocked unconscious—and a semi-armored creature known as the Monster of Badoon. Tarin manages to escape in the chaos, but the others are dragged before the alien leader, Sovereign Drang, and his sadistic aide, Inquisitor Ebor. Cap is subjected to a painful mind-probe but is soon rescued by the Thing, and with help from Sharon, they fight their way out of the palace and lose themselves in the darkened city streets. After several perilous hours, they finally make contact with the Guardians of the Galaxy when Vance Astro, Charlie-27, Martinex, and Yondu rescue them from a Badoon patrol. Cap is fascinated by Astro’s tale of his own years spent in suspended animation, having left Earth in the late 1980s bound for Alpha Centauri aboard a sleeper ship. When he finally arrived a millennium later, Astro found himself a “man out of time,” much like Cap himself, as technological advances had allowed later human colonists to get there ahead of him. Learning that it was Astro who named the Guardians’ spaceship the <i>Captain America</i>, to honor his boyhood hero, Cap is a bit disheartened to realize that his legend has survived into the 31st century only because of this transplant from his own era. They soon rendezvous with Tarin and the rest of the human resistance movement, whereupon they stage a daring raid on the imperial palace and manage to capture Sovereign Drang despite sustaining heavy losses. Drang remains defiant, pointing out that the Badoon have conquered the entire solar system, so one rebel victory is inconsequential. Cap insists that the human war for independence is just beginning, a sentiment echoed by the Guardians of the Galaxy. A few hours later, the time machine’s glowing platform reappears and Cap, Sharon, and the Thing wish their new allies good luck before returning to the present day. After leaving the Baxter Building, Steve becomes dispirited by the thought that, despite whatever the Avengers may accomplish, humanity will be nearly wiped out by lizard people in a little over a thousand years.
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Steve is annoyed when S.H.I.E.L.D. fabricates a story that former U.S. president Morris N. Richardson has died as a result of the health problems that led to his reported resignation last November. Steve knows this is part of the cover-up the agency engineered to prevent the public from learning that the duly-elected President of the United States was behind the Secret Empire’s conspiracy to turn America into a totalitarian dictatorship. Unaware of this, however, the media follows with numerous tributes hailing Richardson as a true American hero and patriot, much to Steve’s disgust. What little remaining faith Steve has in what Captain America represents collapses.
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<b>June 1967 –</b> At Avengers Mansion one stormy evening, Thor, Iron Man, the Vision, the Falcon, and Peggy Carter try to talk Cap out of abandoning his costumed identity, but his mind is made up. He has realized that he can no longer embody a nation that allowed its noble ideals to be turned into a cynical sham. The others are stunned by this turn of events and wonder what could possibly have happened to him inside the White House during the battle with the Secret Empire, but Cap maintains that he is not at liberty to discuss it. Sharon is supportive of his decision, so Steve locks his costume and shield away in a vault beneath the mansion and officially resigns from the team. The next morning, Steve gets into an argument with the Falcon, who can’t seem to accept that Captain America is no more. Finally, the Falcon flies off in a huff, so Steve heads over to Sharon’s Park Avenue townhouse. Along the way, he finds that Captain America’s retirement is the talk of the town. Most people seem either saddened or angered by the news, leaving Steve feeling even more isolated than before. Sharon insists that she’s happy with the choice he’s made and is looking forward to spending the day together. Later, however, while strolling past the city jail, they discover the Falcon has been beaten up by two assailants who have fled the scene. Falcon is furious that his partner was not there when he needed him, but Steve insists that he’s just a sympathetic bystander now. As the Falcon storms off, Steve wonders if quitting his superhero life is going to cost him all his friends. Sharon does her best to cheer him up.
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The following day, while working out at a gymnasium in Brooklyn, Steve meets a jocular kid named Roscoe Simons, and they discuss Captain America’s mysterious retirement. Roscoe suggests that Cap should make a public appearance to explain why he’s no longer making public appearances, and Steve appreciates his wry sense of humor. He then heads over to Sharon’s townhouse to take her out for a day at the beach. The mood is spoiled, though, when Peggy arrives, distraught over Captain America’s “disappearance.” She is desperate to find him, having convinced herself that the man she loves is in terrible danger. Peggy still does not realize that her sister’s boyfriend Steve is the costumed hero she fell in love with during World War II. Gabe Jones, Peggy’s S.H.I.E.L.D. trainer, has brought her home due to her rapidly deteriorating emotional state and tries to guilt Steve into dealing with the situation before it wrecks Peggy’s new career. Steve is frustrated with the way he and Sharon have handled things since Peggy emerged from her catatonic state last year. As usual, though, Sharon doesn’t want to talk about it.
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Several hours later, Steve is heading back to his cot in Sam Wilson’s office when he sees the Falcon blasted out of the sky by a trio of bulky robots that he’s fighting. Horrified, Steve realizes he can’t just walk away when his former partner is in such peril, so he dashes into a sporting goods store and buys a ski mask to disguise himself with. He then confronts two identically dressed villains, both of whom call themselves “Lucifer,” and stops them from killing the unconscious Falcon. During the ensuing battle, Steve maneuvers the robots into destroying each other, at the same time berating himself for leaping into action at the first opportunity despite all his agonized soul-searching. One after the other, the two villains collapse to the ground, convulsing in pain, and Steve realizes that “Lucifer” is actually some kind of entity—possibly demonic—possessing both men, and its malevolent energy has burned out its host bodies. There is nothing Steve can do as the two men die horribly. When he unmasks the two dead men, Steve finds that one is Rafe Michel, an acquaintance of the Falcon’s girlfriend, Leila Taylor, whom he met a couple years ago. The other is Grover Raymond, who served as the second Aries in the international crime cartel Zodiac until being arrested last November following their defeat by the Avengers. When Falcon comes to, he is humiliated and angry that Steve has swooped in to rescue him despite refusing to continue on as his partner. Falcon berates Steve for his ‘white savior’ act and tells him to stay out of his business from now on. Steve is discouraged, feeling that his new life is falling apart all around him.
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Over the next couple weeks, Steve gets to know Roscoe Simons better during his daily workouts at the gym in Brooklyn and is buoyed by the kid’s upbeat attitude. He also spends time with Sharon every day, for she often seems to be the one bright spot in his now-mundane life. On the way back to Sharon’s townhouse from the grocery store one afternoon, Steve tells Sharon that it’s time to let Peggy know the truth about their love affair, feeling it’s wrong to allow her to persist with her romantic fantasy from the 1940s. He knows they did it to protect Peggy’s feelings, but now he fears it’s doing more harm than good. Suddenly, the couple is attacked by a costumed supervillain calling himself the Golden Archer, who shoots trick-arrows at them while speaking in a faux-Shakespearean style. Steve is concerned when he realizes the Golden Archer knows he used to be Captain America. Sharon is frustrated that the shadow of Steve’s former life is still hanging over them.
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Later, the Golden Archer attacks again while Steve is working out at the gym, and Roscoe is amazed by Steve’s athleticism as he chases the villain off. Steve then returns to Sharon’s townhouse, where he broods on the fire escape until Peggy comes home from her day as a S.H.I.E.L.D. trainee. Keeping to the shadows, Steve calls out to Peggy, calling her by her old code name, “Mademoiselle.” Her joy quickly dissolves into tears as Steve informs her that what they had together during the war just can’t exist in the present day. Peggy runs off sobbing, and feeling like a heel, Steve is about to go after her when the Golden Archer intervenes. Enraged, Steve chases the villain across the rooftops, but the Golden Archer finally dazzles him with a flash-arrow and escapes. Fed up, Steve heads back to Sam Wilson’s office and sets a trap for his foe, propping up a dummy behind a window shade and then concealing himself on a rooftop across the street. Sure enough, the Golden Archer soon appears, whereupon Steve tackles him and quickly beats him into submission. The Golden Archer surrenders and pulls off his disguise, revealing himself to be Captain America’s former teammate Hawkeye. Steve is shocked, but Clint Barton quickly explains that he wanted to convince Steve that giving up being a superhero was a big mistake. Also, Clint is grateful that Steve took him under his wing after he joined the Avengers and helped him become a better man—now he wants to return the favor. Steve appreciates Clint’s good intentions but insists that Captain America is not coming back, despite what everybody seems to think. Clint suggests that Steve create a completely new superhero persona instead, so his skills and abilities won’t go to waste. Disenchanted with his civilian life, Steve admits he’s intrigued by the idea.
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<b>July 1967 –</b> Over the next few days, Steve convinces himself that Hawkeye’s idea really has merit—he could return to the life of action and adventure that he loves without being burdened with conflicting ideas about what America symbolizes. However, when he tells Sharon of his decision to become a superhero again, she gets upset and reveals that she supported his decision to retire because she always saw his Captain America identity as an impediment to their relationship. She accepted it then, she explains, because Steve was firmly established in that role when they met—but she doesn’t want to go back to that life of constant danger, hoping instead they could settle down and live like a normal couple. Steve admits he hadn’t thought about it from her perspective but insists that being a superhero is something he was born to do. He suggests they go to Sharon’s parents’ estate in Virginia to devise his new identity and work out his plans, but she refuses, telling him to go by himself if it means that much to him. Stunned, Steve leaves her townhouse and makes his way back to Harlem, wondering why things will never just come together for him.
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In the morning, Steve leaves New York and rides his motorcycle down to Virginia, where he is greeted warmly by Harrison Carter and their butler, Smithers. After retiring to his room, Steve sketches out various costume designs, eventually deciding to keep it simple and not too different from what he had before, though he does add a flowing cape for some superhero panache. While making his new black-and-gold costume, he considers a number of possible codenames. Realizing that he has come to feel like “a man without a country,” Steve settles on the name <b>Nomad</b>. Thus, in Washington, D.C. a few nights later, Nomad makes his public debut. Steve realizes he hasn’t felt so free and unfettered since his first missions as Captain America way back in 1941. As luck would have it, he stumbles upon the Serpent Squad—the Cobra, the Eel, Princess Python, and a female Viper—kidnapping a man in front of a movie theater as his wife screams for help. Chasing the villains into the theater, Nomad is distracted for a moment when he realizes the film being shown is a documentary about Captain America. During the ensuing fight, the Eel reveals that his brother, the original Viper, has been killed by the police. It is then that Nomad recognizes the new Viper as none other than Madame Hydra, proving that she did survive their previous encounter. She claims to have taken up the Viper identity in tribute to the slain villain. Though the crooks berate him as an amateur, Nomad fares quite well against his four foes until he trips on his own cape and slams his jaw into the floor. While the hero is stunned, the Serpent Squad escapes with their captive. Furious with himself, Nomad rips off his cape and throws it away. When the police arrive moments later, Nomad learns that the kidnapping victim is Hugh Jones, the C.E.O. of the Roxxon oil conglomerate. He vows to track down the Serpent Squad and free their captive.
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Frustrated by his lack of leads, Nomad stops by the Lincoln Memorial in search of inspiration. There, he runs into the Sub-Mariner, who is hunting down his nemesis, Warlord Krang. Namor shows little interest in Captain America’s new identity as Nomad, but when he mentions that Krang is in league with the Serpent Squad, Nomad suggests they combine forces. From a nearby car radio they hear Krang announcing that the Serpent Squad is responsible for kidnapping the head of Roxxon Oil. Hugh Jones then reads a prepared statement, but there’s something odd about his voice, which Namor recognizes as resulting from the influence of the Serpent Crown, an ancient mystical artifact from the sunken civilization of Lemuria. Nomad then phones S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and speaks with Nick Fury, who recognizes his voice. Fury confirms that Roxxon has an oil-drilling platform near the coordinates mentioned by Nomad, so the two heroes board Namor’s submarine, moored in the Potomac River, and set off at once for Lemuria at high speed. A few hours later, after passing through the Panama Canal, the submarine arrives at the Roxxon oil rig in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, where it is still daylight. Wanting to prove himself in battle, Nomad asks the Sub-Mariner to hang back in the sub while he confronts the villains. Namor agrees, so Nomad climbs aboard the rig, where he finds Jones wearing the Serpent Crown and looking like he’s in a trance. The Cobra, the Eel, Princess Python, Viper, and Krang are present as well, so Nomad, seeing a strange disturbance in the water near the platform, attacks them without delay. Their brawl is interrupted by the arrival of Roxxon helicopters that strafe the platform with machine guns. Krang snatches the Serpent Crown off Jones’s head and tosses it to Viper. She and the Cobra escape in their aircraft while the others are pinned down by the shooting. Jones quickly comes out of his trance and informs his security forces that he’s shut off the pumps to prevent Lemuria from rising, though Nomad’s not really sure what he’s talking about. Nomad loses his temper when the Roxxon security guards treat him with contempt, punching one guy in the face. Though the Eel and Princess Python are taken into custody, Krang leaps into the ocean and escapes. Thus, Nomad hurries back to the submarine so he and Namor can pursue the fugitive Atlantean warlord.
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When they lose Krang’s trail in the western Pacific, the Sub-Mariner agrees to drop Nomad off in Saigon, the capital city of South Vietnam, where they’ve learned the Avengers are on a mission. Nomad soon catches up with Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, the Vision, and Mantis and tells them what he’s been up to. They are glad to see he’s back in action, though they find his new costume hard to get used to. They inform him of the Swordsman’s death in Peking, China, late last month at the hands of Kang the Conqueror, and of how his burial was disrupted by the Radioactive Man, the Titanium Man, and the Crimson Dynamo. Nomad is surprised to hear that the Swordsman sacrificed his life to save Mantis, given his criminal past. When Hawkeye checks in with the team’s butler, Edwin Jarvis, he reports that the fugitive Serpent Squad members have been spotted in Los Angeles. With that news, Nomad bounds off, promising to keep the Avengers apprised of his activities. When he arrives in California the next day, however, Nomad finds that his quarry has already left town. He soon tracks them north to Seattle, Washington.
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Nomad finds Viper and the Cobra holed up inside an abandoned house in Seattle, firing machine guns at the police who’ve established a cordon around the property. He introduces himself to the police as the superhero who captured the rest of the Serpent Squad out in the Pacific Ocean, but not knowing anything about him, they stop him from charging the building. One cop hits Nomad in the back of the head with the butt of his rifle, knocking him out cold. When he comes to, Nomad finds himself handcuffed to the front wheel of a police cruiser. To his horror, the police have advanced on the building and are getting mowed down by the villains’ gunfire. He uses his super-strength to tear the wheel off its axle and break out of the handcuffs, then storms into the house. He finds the Cobra cowering in a corner, convinced they’re both going to die, as Viper continues firing at the cops outside. A fire has started in the basement, filling the ground floor with smoke mixed with tear gas. Nomad confronts them, whereupon the Cobra offers token resistance while Viper rants about nihilism in service to the Serpent Crown. When Cobra tries to make a run for it, Viper shoots him in the back, intent on making him a martyr to her cause. Nomad is about to tackle her when he is knocked back by the stream of water from a firehose outside. The fire-damaged building suddenly collapses, burying Viper in rubble, but Nomad is able to grab the Cobra and get him outside to a waiting ambulance. The medics determine that the Cobra’s body armor saved the villain’s life. However, Nomad writes off Viper as dead when a gas main ruptures, obliterating the house in a tremendous explosion. Though a thorough search of the wreckage is made, no trace of the Serpent Crown can be found.
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When he finally calls Sharon’s townhouse, Steve learns from Peggy that Sharon has left New York and moved back to their family estate in Virginia. Assuming Sharon has broken off their relationship, Steve is saddened but determines to carry on as Nomad. Having cast himself as a wanderer, he decides not to return to New York in favor of exploring the wide-open spaces of the American west on his motorcycle.
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<b>August–November 1967 –</b> For the next four months, Nomad wanders the western United States, fighting crime, helping people out of jams, and enjoying his freedom. However, he is disturbed by the dark mood of the country and the political polarization caused by racial inequality and the ever-escalating Vietnam War. Eventually, he starts making his way across the Midwest, heading inexorably back towards New York City.
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<b>December 1967 –</b> For about 18 hours, Nomad finds himself trapped within a force-field bubble. Try as he might, he is unable to escape. Finally, the force field vanishes as mysteriously as it appeared. Nomad then learns that while he was trapped, Loki led an invasion force of Asgardian warriors against Washington, D.C., only to be repelled by Thor and the U.S. Army.
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A week before Christmas, Nomad arrives in New York and goes looking for the Falcon. He comes across a Harlem costumed criminal called the Gamecock and his two henchmen and gets into a fight with them that ends abruptly when someone on an adjacent rooftop fires a bazooka at them. Before he can pursue either party, Nomad is confronted by Leila Taylor, who watched the fight from a safe distance. She reveals that the Falcon has been missing for three days, ever since he was seen in the company of a junior Captain America. Nomad isn’t sure what she means by that but rushes off, growing more concerned about his former partner’s whereabouts. After a frustrating encounter with street protestors valorizing the Serpent Squad as anti-corporate crusaders and trying to make Viper out to be a martyr, Nomad checks Sam Wilson’s office for clues. There, he runs into Gabe Jones and Peggy Carter and realizes that Peggy must have finished her training by now and become a full-fledged agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. The pair is dismissive toward Nomad, thinking him to be a novice superhero, and assure him that they are already investigating Sam’s disappearance. Perhaps when Nomad has gained more experience, they suggest, S.H.I.E.L.D. will be willing to work with him. Reminded of how the Roxxon security detail treated him, Nomad decides not to argue the point and leaps out the window.
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Next, Nomad shakes down the Harlem-based crime boss called Morgan, who admits to having hired the Gamecock to kill the Falcon but insists he has no idea where the hero disappeared to. Sensing Morgan is telling the truth, Nomad leaves, wondering what his next move should be. He comes across an irate crowd outside a recently robbed bank and calms them down by reminding them that their accounts are insured by the FDIC. He then stops at the Gem Theater in Times Square to consult with the super-detective Luke Cage, only to find that the “hero for hire” is out of town. Stumbling upon another crowd of panicky customers at the site of a second bank robbery, Nomad is subjected to a conspiracy-minded rant by a man convinced that the Committee to Regain America’s Principles heroically exposed Captain America as being in league with the Secret Empire. He cites Cap’s abrupt retirement as proof of his assertions. Frustrated by all the unforeseen negative consequences of his actions, Nomad berates himself. Then, he remembers that the Falcon had once mentioned following up on Professor X’s suggestion that his rapport with his pet falcon, Redwing, may mark him as a mutant. Thus, Nomad phones Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and speaks with the Beast, but none of the other X-Men are available. Beast assures Nomad that, if the Falcon is a mutant, he may just need some time alone to come to terms with that fact. It’s taken him a couple of years, he reveals, to deal with his own transformation into his current furry form and to find a measure of self-acceptance. Nomad is heartened by these words, but then Redwing swoops down, squawking at him. Realizing the bird wants him to follow, Nomad sets off across the rooftops again.
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A few minutes later, Redwing leads Nomad to the body of a young man dressed as Captain America, hanging upside-down from a chimney. To his horror, he realizes the dead man is Roscoe Simons from the Brooklyn gymnasium where he used to work out, and that this must be whom Leila was referring to earlier. Nearby, Nomad discovers the Falcon, badly beaten and hogtied, dehydrated and suffering from hypothermia. As he is freed, Falcon identifies their attacker as the Red Skull. Nomad is shocked, having thought the villain died in Las Vegas a year and a half ago. The Red Skull is clearly looking for a showdown with Captain America, but Steve is at first determined to maintain his Nomad identity, reasoning that Cap was merely a patriotic fantasy fueled by the onset of World War II. He could represent America while the country was united against external threats like the Axis powers, he feels, but in the five years since he emerged from suspended animation, he’s seen how badly things went awry in his absence, as evidenced by the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War, the Secret Empire taking over the government. When the people entrusted with America’s future abused that trust, they proved themselves every bit as bad as the Red Skull. But then Steve asks himself how, if he was fully prepared to fight foreign enemies, could he balk at fighting domestic ones, even if they held positions of authority? His view of America was clearly too naïve and simplistic, he suddenly realizes, and his conception of his own role was all wrong—Captain America is not meant to represent the American people or their politics but to fight for the American Dream. And as Roscoe’s gruesome death makes clear, he can’t allow anyone else to wage that war for him. A grim determination comes over Steve, and after getting the Falcon to the hospital, he returns at last to Avengers Mansion, discards his Nomad suit, and gets his Captain America costume and shield out of storage. Donning his familiar red, white, and blue garb, Captain America vows to face all the nation’s enemies, whatever the threat and wherever it may originate.
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For the next two weeks, Captain America and the Falcon hunt for the Red Skull. Though their quarry eludes them, the heroes know it’s only a matter of time until the inevitable clash with their ultimate foe.
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<b>Notes:</b>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>January–April 1967 –</b> Black Spectre’s pranks are detailed in <i>Daredevil</i> #109.
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<b>May 1967 –</b> Black Spectre is finally defeated in <i>Daredevil</i> #109–112 and <i>Marvel Two-In-One</i> #3, during which the Avengers remain behind the scenes. Captain America and Sharon Carter then guest-star with the Fantastic Four in <i>Marvel Two-In-One</i> #4–5. For more on President Morris N. Richardson, see <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2005/02/omu-potus-part-three.html">OMU: POTUS – Part Three</a>.
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<b>June 1967 –</b> Steve Rogers charts a new course for his life in <i>Captain America</i> #176 and following. The “Lucifer” who possesses Rafe Michel and Grover Raymond is not a demon, but an alien—the same alien responsible for crippling Charles Xavier. However, Steve never has the chance to learn of Lucifer’s true nature.
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<b>July 1967 –</b> Madame Hydra actually killed the original Viper herself and stole his gear, then told the Serpent Squad that the police were responsible. Nomad catches up with his old teammates in <i>Avengers</i> #131. The aftermath of the battle with the Cobra and the new Viper (and her escape) is revealed in a flashback in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #84.
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<b>August–November 1967 –</b> Most of Steve Rogers’ career as Nomad remains an <b>Untold Tale of the Original Marvel Universe</b>, as more time elapses between the last two installments of the Nomad saga than is apparent in the story as written.
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<b>December 1967 –</b> Various superheroes are seen trapped within Loki’s magical spheres in <i>Thor</i> #233. Steve’s taking up the mantle of Captain America again brings us up to <i>Captain America</i> #183.</span>
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<i><b>Jump Back:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2019/03/omu-captain-america-year-five.html">Captain America – Year Five</a></i>
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<i><b>Next Issue:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2022/03/omu-daredevil-year-six.html">Daredevil – Year Six</a></i>
<br /><br /><br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-26930926269778085312022-01-01T10:13:00.011-06:002023-03-19T18:03:59.313-05:00OMU: Ant-Man -- Year Six<b>Henry Pym</b>, known variously as Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath, and Yellowjacket, spends the next twelve months of his life happily conducting biochemical research in the private laboratory facilities within his Long Island home. His wife and former crimefighting partner, the Wasp, however, is growing restless, longing to return to their life of adventure. The couple remains behind the scenes in comic book character limbo throughout, except for a single guest-appearance in <i>Giant-Size Defenders</i>. Even so, as founding members of the Avengers, they maintain an interest in the activities of the superhero community.
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<b>Note:</b> The following timeline depicts the <b>Original Marvel Universe</b> (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2004/12/the-original-marvel-universe.html">previous posts</a> for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
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Continuing with… <b>The True History of Ant-Man!</b>
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<b>January–April 1967 –</b> Hank Pym and his wife, Janet Pym, enjoy their brand-new house in Southampton on Long Island, where he continues to study the dormant microbe in his bloodstream left behind by the A.I.M. virus he was once exposed to. He is careful not to reactivate the microbe by overusing his size-changing abilities, lest it leave him trapped at ant-size again. This does not overly concern him, as he is happy to have retired from his role as a superhero. Hank continues to collaborate occasionally with Bill Foster, who rents his own lab facilities from Jan elsewhere in the city. For her part, Jan devotes her time to the local social scene and various philanthropic pursuits.
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<b>May 1967 –</b> Hank and Jan are relieved when the subversive organization Black Spectre is finally brought down by Daredevil and the Black Widow. The group had spent months carrying out offensive pranks and outrageous sabotage, such as inciting a race riot at the Statue of Liberty, installing a swastika atop the Washington Monument, draping Philadelphia’s Independence Hall in black shrouds, carving Adolf Hitler’s face into Mount Rushmore, and disrupting the country’s telecommunications infrastructure. With help from S.H.I.E.L.D., the government is able to repair all the damage.
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<b>June 1967 –</b> Hank and Jan are dispirited to learn that Steve Rogers has decided to quit being Captain America, leaving his costume and shield in a storage vault beneath Avengers Mansion. However, they are happy to hear that Quicksilver has gotten married to Crystal, a member of the Inhumans’ royal family, in that race’s hidden refuge on the other side of the world. They hope married life will smooth some of Quicksilver’s rough edges.
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<b>July 1967 –</b> A couple weeks later, Hank and Jan are surprised to learn that the Scarlet Witch and the Vision have also gotten married, in a double-wedding with Mantis and the Swordsman, who subsequently left Earth. Jan thinks this rash of weddings is all very romantic, though she is annoyed that she didn’t get to attend either ceremony. The Pyms are then baffled by a midsummer snowstorm in New York City. Reports of bizarre weather phenomena come in from around the globe, but the cause remains a mystery. Soon after, they are further alarmed when everyone in Manhattan is rendered unconscious for two days. Efforts to investigate the situation are hampered when it is found that anyone who goes to the island likewise passes out. After everyone revives, reports of strange occurrences start coming in from around the world, but then the Fantastic Four announce that it was all part of an alien invasion plot that they have foiled.
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<b>August 1967 –</b> When Manhattan is rocked by a series of unnatural earthquakes, Hank and Jan are relieved to learn that the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and Daredevil have joined in the rescue efforts. Soon after, a character calling himself Maa-Gorr, the Man-God, hijacks all television and radio broadcasts to demand that he be worshiped as the one, true god. Despite his threat to seize control of the world’s energy resources, the lunatic is quickly dealt with by S.H.I.E.L.D.
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<b>December 1967 –</b> For about 18 hours, Hank and Jan find themselves trapped within force-field bubbles. Try as they might, they are unable to escape. Finally, the force fields vanish as mysteriously as they appeared. They then learn that while they were trapped, Loki led an invasion force of Asgardian warriors against Washington, D.C., only to be repelled by Thor and the U.S. Army.
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When his friend Trixie Starr is severely injured in a car-bomb explosion, Hank decides to come out of retirement and seek vengeance against Egghead, her uncle, whom he assumes to be responsible. Rather than act as Ant-Man, however, he suits up as Yellowjacket instead, feeling that identity to be more appropriately intimidating. Refusing to allow Jan to accompany him, Yellowjacket visits Trixie in the hospital and then hunts down Egghead, finding his arch-enemy living as a homeless bum in the Bowery. A shadow of his former self, Egghead admits to the bombing, claiming he wanted to maim Trixie and thereby end her career as a fashion model. Yellowjacket punches him out and turns him over to the police.
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Returning to the hospital, Yellowjacket learns that Trixie’s left arm has been amputated. He then discovers that her boyfriend, the wealthy businessman Kyle Richmond, who was also wounded by the explosion, is secretly the reformed supervillain Nighthawk. Richmond had assumed he was the target of the bombing and has sent his teammates in a superhero group called the Defenders—the Hulk, Doctor Strange, and the Valkyrie—after his former associates in the Squadron Sinister. Remembering when the Squadron Sinister fought the Avengers a few years ago, Yellowjacket agrees to lend the Defenders a hand. During the ensuing battle, Yellowjacket acquits himself admirably, singlehandedly defeating the villainous Whizzer. The Defenders defeat Hyperion and Doctor Spectrum, foiling their plan to kidnap Richmond. The heroes celebrate their victory, though Yellowjacket knows the Wasp will be furious at having missed such an epic superhero donnybrook. Curious about Doctor Spectrum’s shattered power prism, Yellowjacket has the ants in the area gather up all its fragments. He takes them them back to his laboratory and puts them in storage, thinking he may eventually try to reassemble the gem.
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Hank and Jan are happy to learn that Steve Rogers has decided to become Captain America again, having retrieved his gear from the Avengers. The Pyms then celebrate a festive Christmas at their home in Southampton.
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<b>Notes:</b>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>May 1967 –</b> Hank and Janet Pym remain behind the scenes as Black Spectre wreaks havoc in <i>Daredevil</i> #109–112.
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<b>June 1967 –</b> Disillusioned after the Secret Empire affair, Steve Rogers quits in <i>Captain America</i> #176. The wedding of Quicksilver and Crystal occurs soon after in <i>Fantastic Four</i> #150.
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<b>July 1967 –</b> The Scarlet Witch marries the Vision and Mantis marries the Swordsman (or rather his corpse reanimated by an alien) in <i>Giant-Size Avengers</i> #4. The bizarre weather phenomena result from Dormammu taking Gaea prisoner in <i>Doctor Strange</i> v.2 #8–9. The people of Manhattan are then rendered insensate for two days by alien invaders in <i>Giant-Size Fantastic Four</i> #3.
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<b>August 1967 –</b> Earthquakes strike Manhattan in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #28, courtesy of a pair of disgruntled scientists being manipulated by They Who Wield Power. Maa-Gor publicly issues his demands in <i>Ka-Zar, Lord of the Hidden Jungle</i> #4.
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<b>December 1967 –</b> Various superheroes are seen trapped within Loki’s magical spheres in <i>Thor</i> #233. Hank and Jan make their only appearance for the year in <i>Giant-Size Defenders</i> #4. Yellowjacket mentions having gathered up the shattered fragments of Doctor Spectrum’s power prism in <i>Avengers Annual</i> #8. Steve Rogers takes up the mantle of Captain America again in <i>Captain America</i> #183.
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<i><b>Jump Back:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2020/06/omu-ant-man-year-five.html">Ant-Man – Year Five</a>
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<b>Next Issue:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2022/02/omu-captain-america-year-six.html">Captain America – Year Six</a></i>
<br /><br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-55610130278121695002020-06-14T21:00:00.003-05:002023-12-15T14:31:06.729-06:00OMU: Ant-Man -- Year Five<b>Henry Pym</b>, known variously as Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath, and Yellowjacket, continues to enjoy his retirement over the next twelve months of his life, keeping a low profile and largely staying out of the path of danger. His crime-fighting partner and wife, the Wasp, remains supportive, though she would prefer to return to their life of adventure. They remain behind the scenes in comic book character limbo throughout, except for a random guest-appearance in a couple issues of <i>Captain Marvel</i>. Even so, as founding members of the Avengers, they maintain an interest in the team’s activities.
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<b>Note:</b> The following timeline depicts the <b>Original Marvel Universe</b> (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2004/12/the-original-marvel-universe.html">previous posts</a> for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
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Continuing with… <b>The True History of Ant-Man!</b>
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<b>January 1966 –</b> Hank Pym and his wife, Janet Pym, continue to stay at their ritzy hotel in Manhattan while their house in Southampton on Long Island is rebuilt. Jan prefers living in the heart of the city, but she accepts that her husband needs a more remote location to safely carry on his various scientific research projects. Hank continues to collaborate occasionally with Bill Foster, who rents his own lab facilities from Jan elsewhere in the city. When Hank discovers a leftover microbe from the A.I.M. virus still in his bloodstream, he decides he’d better avoid using his size-changing abilities whenever possible, lest the microbe be reactivated and trap him at ant-size again. This does not overly concern him, as he is happy to have retired from his role as a superhero.
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<b>February 1966 –</b> Hank and Jan send their best wishes to the Scarlet Witch and the Vision at Avengers Mansion after news breaks that the mutant woman and synthezoid man have fallen in love. Their relationship proves to be extremely controversial, but Jan thinks it’s all very romantic, despite not understanding why Wanda would want an artificial lover.
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<b>April 1966 –</b> Hank and Jan are shocked to learn that the Avengers have inducted their old enemy the Swordsman into their ranks. Their former teammates assure them that the Swordsman really seems to have reformed this time, thanks to his Vietnamese girlfriend, a martial-arts expert called Mantis.
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<b>May 1966 –</b> Hank is horrified when Jan inexplicably changes into a hideous, demonic monster and attacks him. Their battle wrecks their hotel room as the entire city transforms into a weird, alien landscape. Finally, less than an hour after it began, the fight ends as Jan reverts to normal along with the rest of the city. She is in a daze until a few minutes later, when all the damage is suddenly undone, as if by magic. Later, Hank contacts the Avengers, and they explain that the phenomenon was part of one of Loki’ schemes, but the god of mischief has been defeated. Hank and Jan are irritated when the government subsequently insists that it was all the work of a mutant terrorist.
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<b>July 1966 –</b> Hank and Jan finally move into their rebuilt house in Southampton, which includes laboratory facilities tailored to Hank’s needs. He is excited to get back to full-time biochemical research and starts studying the dormant microbe in his bloodstream. Jan devotes her time to the Southampton social scene.
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<b>November 1966 –</b> Hank and Jan are very concerned when, after a relentlessly negative media campaign tarnishes his reputation, Captain America is accused of murdering a small-time super-villain known as the Tumbler. Breaking out of jail, Cap becomes a fugitive from justice until he clears his name during a battle on the White House lawn with agents of the Secret Empire, a subversive organization bent on conquering America. The Pyms are relieved that their former teammate has been exonerated. Immediately afterward, President Morris N. Richardson appears on television and resigns from office, citing unspecified health problems. Vice President Miller is sworn in to succeed him.
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<b>December 1966 –</b> While attending a biochemistry conference in Chicago, Illinois, Hank and Jan hear a report that Rick Jones has been hospitalized in the city after being exposed to a deadly nerve gas. They race to the hospital to see if they can help, whereupon they meet Carol Danvers, a friend of Rick’s who works as a security advisor for the Department of Defense. Carol informs them that Rick was not actually exposed to the nerve gas—that story was a publicity stunt arranged by his manager, Mordecai P. Boggs—though the youth has gone into an unexplained coma. Suddenly hearing the sounds of battle coming from Rick’s room, Hank and Jan change into Ant-Man and the Wasp and charge in to find their old foe the Living Laser menacing the comatose Rick, Boggs, and Rick’s singing partner Rachel Dandridge. The Living Laser reveals that he is working for a group called the Lunatic Legion, which sees Rick as an impediment to its plans to destroy the world. His ranting gives the Wasp the chance to sabotage the control panel on his belt so as to disable his laser weapons. However, when he then tries to activate them, they short out and the Living Laser is electrocuted. The Wasp is horrified to think she might have accidentally killed him, but when a doctor examines the body, he reports that the Living Laser was some kind of cyborg. Examining their foe’s weapons, Hank and Jan are curious to find highly polished moonstones incorporated into the control panel. Hank wonders if the name “Lunatic Legion” is some kind of inside joke, since the word <i>lunatic</i> derives from the Latin word for moon.
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A little while later, Rick emerges from his coma and demands to know if there is an antidote to the nerve gas. Carol assures him that there is and that some was delivered to the hospital in case he needed it. Rick leaps out of bed and leads Carol and the Pyms to a room down the hall, where they find Captain Marvel lying unconscious on the floor. Hank and Jan realize that Rick must have traded interdimensional places with Mar-Vell as soon as he entered the room. As it turns out, Captain Marvel was the one exposed to the nerve gas, and after the antidote has been administered, he makes a full recovery. The Pyms share their ideas about the Lunatic Legion with Mar-Vell, who confirms that the evil organization has crossed paths with Rick twice now. Hank suggests they may actually be based on the moon, and Mar-Vell agrees to check it out. Later, Hank reports to the Avengers that the Living Laser is dead.
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Returning to New York, Hank and Jan celebrate a festive Christmas at their home in Southampton.
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<b>Notes:</b>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>January 1966 –</b> The dormant microbe in Hank Pym’s bloodstream will be revealed in <i>Giant-Size Defenders</i> #4.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>February 1966 –</b> News of the love affair between the Scarlet Witch and the Vision breaks in <i>Avengers</i> #113. Janet’s opinion of the Vision is revealed in <i>Avengers West Coast Annual</i> #4.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>April 1966 –</b> The Swordsman joins the Avengers (for real this time) in <i>Avengers</i> #114.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>May 1966 –</b> Hank and Jan remain behind the scenes in <i>Avengers</i> #118 when Dormammu, working with Loki, tries to merge Earth with his own mystical realm, the Dark Dimension. The Avengers decide to conceal the truth about that event from the public to avoid mass panic, a fact that President Morris N. Richardson’s anti-mutant administration would surely take advantage of.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>November 1966 –</b> Captain America’s travails at the hands of the Secret Empire are chronicled in <i>Captain America</i> #169–175. The <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2005/02/omu-potus-part-three.html">Morris Richardson</a> who resigns on camera is actually a Life Model Decoy, part of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s cover-up of the President’s role as leader of the Secret Empire.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>December 1966 –</b> Ant-Man and the Wasp make their only appearance for the year in <i>Captain Marvel</i> #35–37. (They are behind the scenes in #36, which is mostly a reprint.) The Living Laser is actually an android duplicate and not Arthur Parks transformed into a cyborg, as Hank would have known if he’d examined the body himself. Apparently, he just took the doctor’s word for it.
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<i><b>Jump Back:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2016/12/omu-ant-man-year-four.html">Ant-Man – Year Four</a></i>
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<i><b>Next Issue:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2022/01/omu-ant-man-year-six.html">Ant-Man – Year Six</a></i>
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<br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-63475548536581548692020-05-19T22:13:00.008-05:002023-12-15T13:49:56.232-06:00OMU: Sun Girl“The truth about <b>Sun Girl</b> was never discovered.” That’s how I ended my <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2005/09/omw-sun-girl.html">OMW: Sun Girl</a> profile many years ago, but even so I’ve remained curious about this extremely obscure superheroine. Now, after a close examination of the stories in which she appeared during the twilight years of Marvel’s first superhero boom, commonly referred to as the Golden Age of Comics, I’ve decided to give her the full chronology treatment. As these are Golden Age stories, I treat them as even less reliable sources than the stories published after 1961, as no effort was made at that time to maintain any kind of consistent continuity. This frees me up to get a little more speculative than I’m normally comfortable with and to answer some of the unanswerable questions raised about who Sun Girl was, where she came from, and where she disappeared to.
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Her debut in <i>Sun Girl</i> #1, cover-dated August 1948, shows “the Mysterious Beauty” to have enhanced strength and agility as well as superhuman resistance to injury, not to mention dynamite fighting skills. Curiously, it also suggests that she has not visibly aged in a couple of decades. Subsequently, in <i>Sun Girl</i> #2 and <i>Human Torch Comics</i> #33, Sun Girl refers to other people as “mortals,” suggesting that she may in fact be a goddess. Taking into account other events that occurred in the <b>Original Marvel Universe</b> around this time, one particular (and little-known) goddess struck me as the most likely candidate.
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<b>Note:</b> The following timeline depicts the Original Marvel Universe (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding backward from there. See <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2004/12/the-original-marvel-universe.html">previous posts</a> for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Much of the information presented on this timeline is highly speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
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Prepare to bask in… <b>The True History of Sun Girl, the Mysterious Beauty!</b>
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<b>1928 –</b> Concerned about the precarious state of affairs on Earth a decade after the Great War, Odin, king of Asgard, decides to send an agent to infiltrate human society. Not wanting a brash warrior who would draw too much attention to himself, Odin selects instead the sun-goddess <b>Sól</b>, daughter of Mundilfari and a member of the elite Ásynjur. Having an adventurous nature, Sól is eager to undertake such a mission. She bids farewell to her father and her brother Máni, then crosses the Rainbow Bridge to the realm of mortals. Materializing in New York City, the largest metropolis in the world, Sól adopts the alias “Sunny Monday” in an attempt to blend in. Sunny soon befriends a young couple, the Murphys, who help her settle in to life in America.
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<b>1930 –</b> With the onset of the Great Depression, Sunny worries that the situation on Earth is deteriorating rapidly. She decides to intervene directly when a mad scientist known as Doctor Drearr tries to conquer the world using his bizarre inventions. The Murphys assist Sunny against Doctor Drearr, only to be killed in the conflict. Determined to avenge their deaths, Sunny apprehends Drearr, who is then sentenced to many years in prison. However, Drearr vows to one day get revenge on the woman who foiled his plans.
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A few months later, Sunny learns that the Murphys’ teenage son Johnny, who was placed in foster care following the deaths of his parents, has run afoul of the law. Arranging for Johnny to be released into her custody, Sunny is dismayed to learn that the boy idolizes the notorious gangster Nails Nelson. Thus, she takes Johnny to the pool hall where Nelson and his gang hang out. She tricks Nelson into confessing to a robbery and goads him into a fight. His henchmen flee after she hits them all in the head with pool balls using her infallible aim and starts whipping the cue sticks around like quarterstaffs. Johnny is astonished that this gorgeous lady has defeated a gang of mobsters single-handedly, and when Nelson pulls out a gun and tries to shoot her, the boy throws himself in front of Sunny, catching the bullet in his shoulder. Sunny then punches Nelson through the front window, knocking him out. Nelson is taken into custody as Johnny is rushed to the hospital. Unfortunately, his injured arm must be amputated, but he’s learned his lesson and is determined to finish high school and make a positive contribution to society. Nails Nelson is sent to prison for his many crimes.
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<b>1931–1941 –</b> Throughout the Depression, Sunny Monday tries to keep a relatively low profile as she helps the people of New York City out of difficult situations and takes various stands against injustice. She gradually becomes frustrated that she can’t take a more active role in fighting the rampant crime she sees plaguing the city.
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<b>1942–1945 –</b> When the United States becomes involved in World War II, Sól abandons her Sunny Monday identity and joins the Women’s Army Corps under the name “Mary Mitchell.” She becomes fascinated by the costumed superheroes who begin to emerge on the scene, such as the Human Torch, Captain America, the Angel, the Blue Diamond, the Patriot, the Whizzer, and particularly Miss America. Mary follows the exploits of the Invaders and the Liberty Legion with great interest.
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<b>1946–1947 –</b> With the post-war emphasis on domesticity, Mary Mitchell has a hard time readjusting to civilian life, as she has no intention of becoming involved with a mortal man. Seeing that crime and corruption remain a scourge on society, she eventually decides to create a new persona for herself.
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<b>July 1948 –</b> All but abandoning her life as Mary Mitchell, Sól designs a black-and-gold superhero costume and assumes the identity of “<b>Sun Girl</b>.” She straps a focusing crystal to her wrist, which enables her to channel the dazzling golden light she can generate within her body. Not wanting to reveal her godly nature, though, she claims the light emanates from the crystal itself, calling the device her “sunbeam ray.” Her initial crime-fighting exploits cause her to become a media sensation as she patrols the city in her brand-new black Studebaker Champion convertible, prompting the press to dub her “the Mysterious Beauty.”
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When New York’s Chief of Police goes on vacation towards the end of the month, a sudden rash of well-coordinated bank robberies hits the city. The police are frustrated that the criminals easily escape every time. Sun Girl takes an interest in the case, seeing an opportunity to establish a reputation as an enemy of organized crime.
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<b>August 1948 –</b> Sun Girl suspects someone in the police force is organizing the crime spree, since the robberies always take place in areas no patrol cars have been assigned to. After delivering some bank robbers to police headquarters, she meets with the vacationing chief’s assistant, Glenn Darwin, and informs him of her plan to smoke out the ringleader by announcing on the radio that she has discovered his identity. She mentions that she plans to enter the radio station through a back alley in case any assassins are lurking out front. Thus, when a gunman is waiting for her in the alley, she realizes that Darwin must be her man. She overpowers the gunman and forces him to confess that Darwin sent him there to kill her. Sun Girl then confronts Darwin in his apartment, disarms him, and threatens to break his arm unless he confesses as well. Darwin is taken into custody, and Sun Girl is relieved when the police chief reports back to work a few days later.
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Learning that her old enemy Doctor Drearr is up for parole, Sun Girl goes to Glenrock Prison to try to dissuade the warden from releasing him. She is too late, however, as Drearr has already been sent home. A few days later, Sun Girl finds a 100-foot-tall humanoid monster climbing out of the harbor, causing widespread panic. The creature proves impervious to the weaponry of hastily summoned Army and National Guard units, but Sun Girl is able to force it to retreat back to the ocean depths by shining her sunbeam ray into its one good eye. She then tracks Doctor Drearr to the penthouse apartment where he has set up his laboratory. She finds him operating a device to summon more such monsters from the deep. She easily disarms Drearr and forces him to reverse the polarity of his energy beam so the creatures will be driven away from the city. The vengeful scientist tries to shove Sun Girl into the path of the beam, but she punches him in the face. Drearr stumbles into the beam and is shot out into the ocean like a human cannonball, where he drowns. Sun Girl then smashes up Drearr’s equipment with a fireman’s ax. The next day, she returns to the prison to inform the warden of Drearr’s death and the catastrophe he nearly caused.
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Sun Girl pays a visit to the one-armed Judge John Murphy to inform him that the man who killed his parents has paid for his crimes with his life. Murphy is astonished that the woman who saved him from becoming a juvenile delinquent almost twenty years ago doesn’t seem to have aged a single day in all that time.
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<b>September 1948 –</b> Sun Girl makes the acquaintance of the world-famous android crime-fighter known as the Human Torch. His junior partner, Toro, has taken a leave of absence, leaving him feeling unusually lonely, and he is happy to have the company of a beautiful woman who does not fear his flame. The Torch and Sun Girl team up to clear the name of Robert Dammer, who was framed for murder by the mob boss Joe Esterban. Acting on information from Dammer’s girlfriend, the two heroes witness Esterban murdering notorious stool pigeon Morty Vance, whose fraudulent testimony ensured Dammer’s conviction. Thanks to the heroes’ timely intervention, Vance is able to confess to the police before he dies, exonerating Dammer. Esterban is then taken into custody and charged with Vance’s murder, while Dammer is cleared of the charges against him and released from prison.
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Following this success, Sun Girl agrees to help the Torch investigate a case of insurance fraud involving a charity called the National Jazz Foundation, which has been linked to two suspicious deaths. They go to question the noted jazz trumpeter “Scorch” Liddel, who has been promoting the charity from the nightclub he manages. When the heroes arrive, they overhear Liddel arguing with his girlfriend Linda, who has recently made the charity the sole beneficiary of her life insurance policy. Before storming out, Linda reveals that the charity is actually run by Liddel’s boss, nightclub owner Timmy Jordan. The Torch suspects that Jordan is responsible for the deaths when Jordan phones Liddel to say that his lost trumpet has been found and Linda is there waiting for him. The Torch flies on ahead to Jordan’s home while Sun Girl drives Liddel there in her sportscar. When they arrive, they find the Torch has caught Jordan attempting to bludgeon Linda to death with the trumpet, intending to frame Liddel. Jordan is taken into custody while Liddel proposes to Linda. Sun Girl realizes that she finds the Human Torch strangely attractive.
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<b>October 1948 –</b> Sun Girl and the Human Torch stumble upon a scheme to smuggle diamonds into the country concealed inside lollipops. The surgeon behind the plot redeems himself when he saves a young girl who ingested one of the hidden diamonds, and the Torch decides to treat him with leniency. Shortly afterward, Sun Girl travels to a small city in Appalachia which is crumbling as the mine shafts underneath it collapse. The owner of the mine, Mr. Grimes, at first refuses to take responsibility, claiming that the measures he took when the mine was closed at the start of the Great Depression were satisfactory. This forces Sun Girl to undertake a perilous investigation of the mine, and she barely escapes a cave-in. When Grimes continues to frustrate her efforts to evacuate the city, Sun Girl barges into his mansion outside of town and confronts him. Grimes’s attitude quickly changes when the tunnels under his estate give way, wrecking his mansion and endangering his granddaughter. He then oversees a speedy evacuation of the city, which is utterly destroyed that night by a final, catastrophic collapse. Grimes assures Sun Girl that the insurance settlement will allow him to rebuild the community. Satisfied, she returns to New York.
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Sun Girl joins in the manhunt for the mad scientist George Fredericks, who has escaped from the mental institution where he was committed after apparently murdering his research assistant. She tracks him to his abandoned laboratory and finds him about to smash up his complex array of electrical equipment with a lead pipe. Fearing Fredericks will be electrocuted, Sun Girl stops him, but he raves about needing to destroy the entities that killed his assistant. In order to prove his bizarre story, Fredericks activates his machines, which tear open a rift in the spacetime continuum, allowing weirdly translucent green aliens to materialize in the lab. One of the aliens immediately grabs Sun Girl by the throat and tries to strangle her, lending credence to Fredericks’s story, but the alien backs off when she shines her sunbeam ray in its face. Sun Girl then watches in horror as Fredericks sacrifices himself to close the rift, sealing the murderous aliens out of Earth’s dimension forever. The intense heat and vibrations emanating from the destabilized rift drive Sun Girl out of the building just seconds before it is annihilated by an implosion. When the police arrive on the scene, she tells them only that Fredericks was inside the building when it was destroyed, knowing they would never believe the truth. Sun Girl is struck by the irony that Fredericks gave his life to save humanity but will be remembered only as a homicidal maniac.
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Sun Girl is giving an interview to newspaper reporter Ches Bradwyck in a coffee shop when their conversation is interrupted by two brothers fighting over their inheritance. Sun Girl breaks up the fight, but the disinherited brother, Dick Worth, and his shrewish wife Laura insult her and storm out. Curious, Sun Girl follows the other brother, John, home, learning that he is a medical doctor. After a large safe is delivered to the house, Sun Girl slips in through a window to check it out, finding herself in a private laboratory. However, John discovers her and warns her away from some radioactive materials he’s using for research. He dismisses her concern that Dick and Laura will try to steal the contents of the safe, so she leaves. After dinner, though, Sun Girl decides she’d better keep a discreet eye on the property in any case. She returns in time to see the greedy couple sneaking into the house and breaking open the safe. They then fight over a small package they find inside. When John surprises them, Dick shoots him in the chest, prompting Sun Girl to charge into the room and disarm him. She then informs the would-be thieves that the package they took from the lead-lined safe contains more radioactive materials, and by handling it without proper protection, they’ve given themselves fatal radiation poisoning. John is then rushed to the hospital, where he recovers from his gunshot wound, while Dick and Laura are sent to prison. They soon succumb to radiation sickness, but Sun Girl is satisfied that they’ve gotten their just deserts.
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Sun Girl is enjoying the fall colors at the Quartz Lake recreation area when she saves a lovesick loser named Ferd Farrel from drowning. No sooner has she dragged him to safety than a gigantic humanoid shape made of crystal shards emerges from the water and wanders into the woods, where any living thing it touches is instantly petrified. To get help, Ferd leads Sun Girl to the chemical research laboratory where he works, about half a mile away. Unfortunately, Ferd’s boss, Professor Weaver, has already fallen victim to the monster’s touch. Leaving the scientist’s distraught daughter Elsie behind, Sun Girl and Ferd race to warn the residents of the nearest town. As the evacuation begins, Sun Girl sees more crystal monsters emerging from the lake and realizes they will likely reach New York City in a week if they can’t be stopped. When the military’s attempt to bomb the monsters ends in failure, Ferd admits that he is responsible for their rampage—after getting into an argument with Professor Weaver while attempting to impress Elsie with his assertiveness, Ferd stole the chemical mixture they were working on in a fit of pique and threw it into the lake, just moments before Sun Girl rescued him. Assuming that the chemical somehow interacted with the minerals in the lake water to produce the crystal monsters, Sun Girl takes Ferd back to the laboratory, where he works with Elsie to recreate the experiment. There, Sun Girl discovers the monsters’ weakness—dry ice breaks down their crystalline lattice, causing them to disintegrate. She quickly informs the military, which then uses bombers to drop packages of dry ice onto the shambling monsters, destroying them. Over the following week, the military neutralizes the chemicals in the lake after making a thorough study of the contaminated water. Meanwhile, Sun Girl plays matchmaker and convinces Elsie to pursue a romantic relationship with Ferd. She decides to keep the young couple’s role in the crisis a secret to protect their privacy.
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<b>November 1948 –</b> Inspired by her own advice to Elsie Weaver, Sun Girl initiates a romance with the Human Torch. He proves to be very receptive to her advances, and although he is a synthetic man created in a laboratory only a decade ago, she finds him to be a very sensuous lover. The fact that he does not age also appeals to her. Shortly afterward, thousands of household pets and other domesticated animals suddenly start attacking and killing their owners, prompting the nation’s scientists to convene to analyze the strange phenomenon. Sun Girl and the Torch meet up with Captain America, a teammate in the All-Winners Squad, at a research institute in Manhattan where a Professor Jefferson reveals that the violence is being caused by energy rays emanating from another dimension. Jefferson speculates that the effect will soon spread to people, causing the human race to destroy itself in a paroxysm of murderous madness. However, he believes the Human Torch could use his dimensional-rift generator to travel to the other world and cut the rays off at the source. Sun Girl and Captain America are willing to accompany him, but since he alone possesses the power of flight, the Torch realizes he must undertake the dangerous mission alone. As Jefferson needs many hours to make the proper preparations, Sun Girl and the Torch spend a passionate night together, knowing it may be his last.
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The next morning, they all meet up again on the tarmac at LaGuardia Airport in Queens, where Professor Jefferson has set up his dimensional-rift generator. As the Torch says his farewells, Sun Girl is surprised to find herself getting really emotional about it. A crowd of spectators watches in awe as the Torch flies through Jefferson’s dimensional gateway. Sun Girl and Captain America then join Jefferson in his control room to anxiously await the Torch’s return. Several hours later, Jefferson announces that the energy rays have ceased, meaning the Torch succeeded in that phase of his mission, but it remains to be seen if he’ll make it back to Earth safely. Soon after, the Torch comes hurtling out of the dimensional gateway with his flame extinguished. Captain America leaps into action and breaks his teammate’s fall, though both men are stunned by the impact. Sun Girl fears they’ve been killed, but they quickly revive. The Torch then reports that he encountered a race of demonic-looking creatures that inhabited a hellish landscape. They nearly overwhelmed him as he traced the energy rays back to their source, a huge boiling pool of fluid inside a cave. Several of the creatures were killed by a sudden meteor bombardment, he reveals, and the rest were drowned when he melted the basin that contained the unearthly fluid, flooding the cavern. After sealing the cave, he made the perilous journey back to Earth. Sun Girl is thrilled by her lover’s victory, and Captain America commends his bravery.
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After entertaining the kids at a children’s hospital in Manhattan, Sun Girl playfully challenges the Human Torch to solve his next case without using his flame powers. The Torch accepts, adding that if he is forced to use his powers, he’ll donate $1,000 to the hospital for each time he flames on. A new case soon presents itself as the Torch is summoned to the state penitentiary to discuss a situation involving Dan Patcher, an armed robber whom the Torch apprehended back in 1940. There, Patcher reveals that the rest of his gang, who escaped capture, has been threatening his wife and nine-year-old son to force him to reveal the location of the loot from his last job. The Torch decides to disguise himself as Patcher to infiltrate the gang while Sun Girl guards his family. The next day, after getting tipped off by the Torch, Sun Girl leads the police to an abandoned building where the gang is holed up. Hearing machine gun fire, they storm in and find the Torch has been badly beaten by the gang after they discovered his deception. The criminals are quickly apprehended, and the Torch is rushed to the hospital for treatment. Sun Girl is very impressed that he took a beating without resorting to his flame powers. When the Torch also donates the $20,000 reward to the children’s hospital, Sun Girl decides to reward him with some tender loving.
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While the Torch recuperates, Sun Girl pays a visit to Appalachia to check on the progress of the community devastated by the mine collapse. Mr. Grimes and his granddaughter drive her out to a new housing development to be named Suntown in her honor. Sun Girl agrees to come back for the dedication ceremony when the first phase of the planned 700 units is complete.
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<b>December 1948 –</b> Sun Girl and the Human Torch face a diabolical death trap while assisting the police with tracking down a bank robber known in the media as “the Granite Bandit” for his use of quick-hardening liquid stone to immobilize his victims. The crook, a failed sculptor named Corelli, invites the heroic couple to his studio, where a trap door sends them into a deep shaft that quickly fills up with the liquid stone compound. Luckily, Corelli lowers breathing tubes to them before the sludge hardens, hoping to prolong their agony. This enables the Torch to use his flame to melt away the stone over the course of several hours. When Corelli and his gang return from another robbery that evening, Sun Girl and the Torch take them by surprise and confiscate the sludge-spraying “granite gun.” Though the gang is apprehended, Corelli manages to slip away in the confusion. Several days later, he takes Sun Girl by surprise and encases her in his liquid stone, having recreated his strange weapon. Unable to break free, she remains trapped for several hours before being rescued again by the Torch, who has finally captured Corelli. When the Torch asks Sun Girl how she’s doing after her grueling ordeal, she admits only to feeling hungry.
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The appearance of an army of extraterrestrial phantoms in New York City causes a general panic, prompting Sun Girl to investigate. This leads her to the Westchester County estate of an elderly physicist named Professor Blair, whose adventurous son Arthur captured one of the aliens and confiscated its interdimensional transport device. Unfortunately, Arthur was fatally wounded while scouting out the alien dimension and has died. Having learned from his son that the phantoms are the spearhead of an invasion force, Professor Blair offers the transport device to Sun Girl. She agrees to travel to the aliens’ realm to try to head off the invasion. Once there, she is soon captured by the aliens’ ruthless dictator, Kain, and taken back to his palace, where she convinces Kain’s lover, Princess Cara, to aid her. Sun Girl then uses her sunbeam ray like a laser to destroy the armament factory where the transport devices are manufactured along with other weaponry. Following Kain and his troops into the interdimensional vortex, Sun Girl uses her sunbeam ray to destroy the transport devices on their belts. The resulting explosions tear apart Kain’s army and blast their bodies into Upper New York Bay, where they are soon washed into the ocean. Materializing in the harbor, Sun Girl swims to Battery Park and learns from Professor Blair that the aliens’ advance preparations caused only very limited damage. She is confident that Princess Cara will not pursue Kain’s dreams of conquest.
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After intervening in a gangland killing and helping the authorities stop a large gorilla that escaped from a circus, Sun Girl rescues a scientist who is drifting through the sky after an anti-gravity experiment goes awry. The scientist explains that he inadvertently recruited the small-time crook “Peanuts” McCoy as a test subject. The experiment granted McCoy the ability to leap high into the air and land without injury, like a human grasshopper. McCoy then used the anti-gravity device to render the scientist weightless and made good his escape. However, while pursuing McCoy, Sun Girl and the crook are both abducted by aliens and taken to their distant planet, Zarko. There, the Zarkovian Council of Elders informs the pair that they are to be indoctrinated in Zarkovian philosophy and returned to Earth as their emissaries. Balking at the prospect, McCoy produces a gun and shoots a couple of the councilors before Sun Girl can tackle him. The disgusted Zarkovians immediately gas their two prisoners into unconsciousness.
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<b>January 1949 –</b> When Sun Girl comes to, she finds herself and “Peanuts” McCoy lying in a field on Earth. To his chagrin, McCoy discovers that he has lost his superhuman leaping ability, the effects of the anti-gravity experiment having worn off while he was in space. Sun Girl easily apprehends the crook and delivers him to the nearest police station, where she learns a month has passed since their abduction. She assumes the Zarkovians canceled their plans after witnessing human brutality firsthand.
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Sun Girl contacts the Human Torch, who has been frantic with worry since she vanished four weeks ago, and they resume their torrid love affair. After having sex in his apartment, they are watching television coverage of a hockey game when the broadcast is interrupted by a news bulletin. The heroes are shocked to learn that U.S. President Harry S. Truman has vanished into thin air outside the White House. They race to Washington, D.C. to offer their help to the investigation. When various random people and objects continue to disappear throughout the day, the Torch, acting on a hunch, takes Sun Girl to Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There, they manage to grab onto the Liberty Bell as it begins to disappear and find themselves transported to another dimension, where everything appears strangely distorted. They quickly rescue President Truman from a museum where he has been put on display with the other loot from Earth. The aliens are not prepared for the Torch’s flame powers, and he is thus able to force them to surrender. All the kidnapped people and stolen objects are then returned to their point of origin, and Sun Girl and the Human Torch head back to New York City.
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Sun Girl and the Human Torch investigate the crime spree of a down-on-his-luck comedian known as Mark Funny, who has developed a hypnotic ability that causes people to laugh uncontrollably. When Funny forces three elderly millionaires to laugh themselves to death, the heroes realize he has moved beyond armed robbery and is now a murderer. They track Funny to his hideout in the basement of his mentor’s mansion and take him into custody. Funny is subsequently sentenced to die in the electric chair.
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Sun Girl takes a train out to the Hopi Reservation in Arizona when she is invited to participate in their Festival of the Sun. She is met by a tribal delegation and is treated to a traditional Hopi feast that evening, followed by a meet-and-greet event for local VIPs. Afterwards, while relaxing in her hotel room, Sun Girl hears a news bulletin on the radio reporting that a nearby jewelry store has been robbed by “unearthly beings.” Tired out by her busy day, she decides to let the local police handle it. Over breakfast the next morning, she reads more about the robbery and subsequent crimes, which seem to have been committed by a trio of small robots who are only interested in gold, ignoring all other valuables. Though intrigued by the strange case, she heads off to the Hopi festival, where she is greeted with much pomp and circumstance. She gives a speech expressing her deep appreciation for Hopi culture, but when the Hopi hail her as “the golden goddess,” she begins to worry that they have somehow divined her true identity. She leaves the festival without stopping to sign autographs, only to be ambushed by the three robots, who shock her into unconsciousness.
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When she comes to, Sun Girl discovers she has again been kidnapped by aliens and is en route to their home planet, Autan. The robots reveal that they were sent to Earth to get gold, for which their “brain-master” has an insatiable appetite. For some reason, the robots believe Sun Girl to be “all gold.” When the ship lands on the gloomy, barren world, the robots shackle Sun Girl’s wrists behind her back and chain her ankles together. She is then led into the presence of the brain-master, a hideous cyborg creature composed of a gigantic organic brain with a sort of face beneath it and various mechanical appendages. Communicating telepathically, the brain-master tells Sun Girl of its plan to strip-mine Earth for all its gold. She finds the telepathic touch of its thoughts loathsome in the extreme. Another robot then enters and reports that the humanoid slaves who labor in the brain-master’s gold mines are refusing to work. Unwilling to stand by while the slaves are summarily executed, Sun Girl offers to intercede on the brain-master’s behalf. The monster relents and orders the robots to take Sun Girl out to the gold mines, though she is to remain shackled at all times.
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Arriving at the labor camp, Sun Girl finds a ragtag group of half-naked slaves with their leader, Grail, a tall, well-built man. She convinces Grail not to offer any resistance until he hears her proposals. They are then joined by Grail’s blind wife, Mara, whereupon Sun Girl quietly outlines her plan to destroy the brain-master and free the slaves. Thus, Grail announces that the revolt is over and that his people will return to work while he is taken hostage. The robots shackle Grail in the same manner as Sun Girl and transport the two prisoners back to the brain-master’s lair. When he sees the brain-master for the first time, Grail recoils in exaggerated horror and purposefully backs into Sun Girl. She activates her sunbeam ray and disintegrates Grail’s shackles. While he keeps the monster busy, Sun Girl frees herself, then fires a searing energy beam at the gigantic brain, burning through its quivering tissues. As the brain-master dies, its robots cease to function and collapse. Sun Girl and Grail then hike back to the gold mines to liberate the slaves. Subsequently, Grail and Mara take Sun Girl back to Earth in the robots’ spaceship and drop her off. Sun Girl feels pretty proud of herself for literally saving an entire civilization with both hands tied behind her back.
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<b>February 1949 –</b> Sun Girl and the Human Torch take a romantic vacation to a ski resort in the Swiss Alps. While there, they discover that a mad scientist called Professor Grimm has kidnapped a toddler from a hospital in Geneva and turned him into a giant he refers to as “Borkor.” The giant toddler begins terrorizing the resort and the nearby village as Grimm steals resources to continue his experiments. The heroes track Borkor to Grimm’s hidden laboratory in a cave high up on the mountain. When Grimm heads down to the village for supplies, Sun Girl and the Human Torch slip into the cave. Using Grimm’s notes, they create a serum to reverse the effects of the experiment and inject it into Borkor’s body. He immediately goes berserk and charges down the mountain to the village, where he accidentally crushes Grimm to death with a broken tree trunk. The serum then finally takes effect, changing Borkor back to his normal size. After contacting the authorities in Geneva, Sun Girl and the Torch reunite Borkor, whose real name turns out to be Felix, with his parents. The grateful couple insists that the heroes join them for a home-cooked meal and a cozy evening in front of the fireplace. After enjoying the rest of their lovers’ getaway, Sun Girl and the Human Torch head home to New York City.
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Sun Girl arranges to interview a young astronomer, Elmo Vandal, who is doing some interesting research on cosmic rays. When she arrives at the observatory, though, she finds Vandal and his senior colleague, Professor Lowe, frantically trying to track a strange metallic sphere with their telescope. Vandal explains that the sphere seems to be giving off a rhythmic signal, such as might be produced by an alien intelligence. Professor Lowe takes a moment to introduce Sun Girl to his daughter Inez and his research assistant Roger Reed. Suddenly, the telescope’s scanner screen explodes in Vandal’s face, dazzling him with an intense burst of light. Vandal refuses to seek medical attention and orders everyone except Reed to vacate the premises. Outside, Lowe apologizes to Sun Girl for the cancellation of the interview. Noting an abrupt change in Vandal’s demeanor following the explosion, Sun Girl returns home. Not long after, she meets with newspaper reporter Ches Bradwyck again and tells him all about her encounter with the Worth family, revealing that John Worth has returned to his medical research while Dick and Laura are dying of radiation poisoning in jail. Breswyck admits that it’s a crackerjack story.
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<b>March 1949 –</b> Sun Girl is surprised when Inez Lowe turns up on her doorstep, clearly despondent over recent events at the observatory. Concerned by the situation, Sun Girl returns to the scene and arrives in time to watch as the strange metallic sphere comes in for a gentle landing near the building. Vandal and Reed run outside to meet it, only to be menaced by slimy tentacles that emerge from portholes on the sphere’s surface. Sun Girl charges in, but one of the tentacles whips around and slams her into a tree branch, knocking her out. When she comes to, Sun Girl sees Vandal, apparently under the mental domination of the creature within the sphere, shoot Reed in the back. She tackles Vandal and disarms him just as Professor Lowe and Inez arrive in their car. Though grievously wounded, Reed tells Inez to get inside the observatory and shut off Vandal’s machine. Sun Girl keeps the tentacles busy to allow Inez to succeed. The sphere immediately lifts off, but a tentacle shoots out and grabs Vandal, carrying him up into the sky. Sun Girl is content to let Vandal die in the upper atmosphere, but Professor Lowe insists they try to save him by reactivating the machine. They enter the observatory but find that Inez has wrecked the machine with a fireman’s ax and set it on fire. Inez regrets her rash action, though, when she realizes that Reed’s wounds are not fatal. Reed is taken to the hospital, where he makes a full recovery. He confirms that the creature within the sphere was bent on world conquest and was using Vandal like a puppet. Having looked through the telescope, Sun Girl knows that Vandal was hauled inside the sphere as it rose through the air, and she wonders what horrors the hapless scientist will face in outer space.
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Sun Girl and the Human Torch take a transcontinental flight aboard a DC-3 from New York City to Los Angeles. Somewhere over the Grand Canyon, a dazzling beam of light shoots up from the ground and disables the plane’s systems. The Human Torch exits the aircraft and enables it to make a safe landing at the nearest airstrip. Upon investigation, the two heroes discover a plot to drive the airline into bankruptcy so it can be taken over by the Eastern Star corporation. The treacherous executive is exposed, and his energy beam is destroyed by the Torch. With the situation resolved, Sun Girl and the Human Torch continue on their way to California.
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<b>April 1949 –</b> Back in New York City, Sun Girl and the Human Torch are frustrated by the ingenious crime spree of Dizzy Daze, a goofy-looking crook in a clownish outfit. His latest heist, committed the previous day, was stealing the world’s largest emerald from Tiffany & Co. on Fifth Avenue, right out from under the nose of the store’s security team. The heroes head out to locate Daze, and they soon find him and his partner-in-crime, Monk Mayhem, flying around high above the city in a single-engine plane trailing a banner emblazoned with a challenge to the Torch. The heroes approach somewhat overconfidently and are captured by Daze’s elaborate gizmos. Dangling Sun Girl beneath the plane, Daze demands that the Torch sell the stolen emerald back to Tiffany’s for a million dollars. Worried for his lover’s safety, the Torch agrees. He takes the emerald and flies off through the clouds. Sometime later, he returns carrying a check, and Sun Girl is irritated that Daze has gotten the better of them. A moment later, things go from bad to worse when Daze suddenly sends her plummeting toward the ground. The Torch comes blazing out of the plane and saves her, setting her safely down on terra firma before streaking off after their foes again. A few hours later, Sun Girl rendezvouses with the Human Torch, and she is gratified to learn that both Daze and Mayhem are in police custody. She commends the Torch for remaining undefeated.
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Soon after, the Human Torch’s regular partner, the 20-year-old Toro, returns from his leave of absence. He is not happy to find he’s been replaced by a woman and is clearly jealous of the Torch’s relationship with the blond bombshell. Sun Girl quickly grows annoyed with the Torch’s inability to resolve his divided loyalties, and as tensions escalate, the couple decides to take a break from each other. Sun Girl elects to leave New York for a while and travel the world. She soon convinces herself that her relationship with the Human Torch was only tying her down, though she hopes their estrangement will ultimately convince the Torch to choose her over Toro.
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<b>May 1949 –</b> Hearing tales of a lost tribe of Aztecs who still worship the sun, Sun Girl hooks up with a scientific expedition in that region of Mexico that is setting up to photograph a total solar eclipse. She hits it off with the handsome Professor Leary and is disturbed several days later when Leary is kidnapped by the lost tribe while off with a scouting party in the jungle. Unwilling to wait for government troops to handle the situation, Sun Girl sets off into the jungle to rescue Leary on her own. She soon discovers the Aztecs in a remote valley and is horrified to see that they are literally cooking Leary to death using large lenses to focus the sun’s rays on him while he is tied to a post atop their temple. She tries to convince the high priest that she is a messenger from their sun god, Huitzilopochtli, but the priest is not fooled since he was educated out in the civilized world. He orders the temple guards to chain Sun Girl to a post next to Leary, who is mumbling deliriously about the impending solar eclipse. Realizing it’s about to start, Sun Girl calls out to the Aztecs, warning them that the wrath of Huitzilopochtli will darken the sky. When this comes to pass, the terrified Aztecs turn on their high priest and, ignoring his attempts to explain the phenomenon, hurl him from the top of the temple. He is killed instantly when his body hits the ground. After the eclipse passes, the grateful Aztecs escort Sun Girl and Leary out of the valley. Back at their base camp, Sun Girl decides not to pursue a relationship with Leary, feeling ready to return to the United States. She does consider writing their experience up as an adventure novel, though.
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<b>June 1949 –</b> Back in New York City, Sun Girl is reluctant to contact the Human Torch, hoping he’ll make the first move. She regrets her stratagem, though, when it is reported that both the Torch and Toro have vanished without a trace. She immediately begins an investigation into their disappearances, but the few clues she finds all lead to dead ends. She worries that the Torch’s winning streak against organized crime has finally come to an ignominious end. Despite her own efforts and a full-scale police investigation, no sign of the two flaming crime-fighters can be found. Sun Girl is emotionally devastated. Soon after, the remaining members of the All-Winners Squad decide to disband.
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<b>July 1949 –</b> Sun Girl realizes that the age of superheroes has come to a close. She acknowledges that her own war on crime has fizzled out due to her obsessive search for her android lover, and so she decides to hang up her black-and-gold costume once and for all.
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<b>August 1949 –</b> Odin contacts Sun Girl and commands her to return to Asgard and resume her true identity as Sól, goddess of the sun. The All-Father reveals that he has banished his headstrong son Thor to Earth in the form of a mortal medical student and doesn’t want to risk him encountering any other Asgardians. Sól dutifully obeys and abandons her life on Earth, soon reuniting with Mundilfari and Máni in Odin’s kingdom.
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<b>October 1949 –</b> Sól joins the rest of the Ásynjur as they begin their scheduled 20-year shift watching over the nine Young Gods that have been gathered over the last millennium and kept in suspended animation in anticipation of the coming of the Fourth Host of the Celestials. In their hidden underground temple, which is unwittingly guarded by Fafnir the Dragon, Sól regales the other goddesses with stories of her two decades of adventure on Midgard.
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<b>Notes:</b>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1928–1930 –</b> Sun Girl’s history with Doctor Drearr and Johnny Murphy is revealed in the second and third stories in <i>Sun Girl</i> #1. At the end of Johnny’s tale, he appears with Sun Girl as an adult judge in his courtroom, indicating that the bulk of the story took place many years previously. I believe it was long before she adopted her superhero identity, and so the depiction of her as Sun Girl in the story is inaccurate. Interestingly, this is about the only story in which she appears in civilian clothes. I derived the alias “Sunny Monday” from her real name (Sól, daughter of Mundilfari) with the presumption that her first attempt at creating a human identity would not be entirely convincing. As far as I know, the Norse goddess Sól has never appeared in a Marvel comic.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>1931–1947 –</b> The name “Mary Mitchell” comes from Roy Thomas’s non-canonical <i>Saga of the Original Human Torch</i> #3, where, true to form, he made Sun Girl a simpering secretary with no superpowers.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>July–August 1948 –</b> Sun Girl roots out corruption in the police department in the first story in <i>Sun Girl</i> #1, in which her reputation as a crime-fighter is already established. She never received a proper origin story during her original run. Doctor Drearr seeks revenge on her in the second story in the same issue. Presumably, the monsters from the deep that Doctor Drearr summons are the result of the Deviants’ genetic experiments. As mentioned above, Sun Girl makes a one-panel cameo in the present day with Judge John Murphy at the end of the third story. She does not appear to have aged at all since he was a teenager.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>September 1948 –</b> Sun Girl first joins forces with the original Human Torch in two stories in <i>Human Torch Comics</i> #32. This issue also features the first appearance of Sun Girl’s black sportscar, which looks like a bullet-nosed Studebaker Champion to me.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>October 1948 –</b> Sun Girl assists the Human Torch with the case of the deadly lollipops in <i>Marvel Mystery Comics</i> #88. Later in the same issue, she goes solo to Appalachia. The collapsing city is fictionalized as “Largetown” but may be in the vicinity of ill-fated Clairton, West Virginia. Sun Girl then meets George Fredericks, the Worth family, and Ferd Farrel in the three stories in <i>Sun Girl</i> #2.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>November 1948 –</b> The Captain America who appears in <i>Human Torch Comics</i> #33 is Jeff Mace, the third man to wear the costume. He served in the Liberty Legion during the war as the Patriot. In the story as written, the Human Torch flies to the planet Jupiter under his own power. This is, of course, impossible, so I decided the aliens must inhabit some hellish other dimension instead. It seems likely, in fact, that the demonic creatures seen in this story are actually the N’Garai. Their boiling pool of fluid that emits some kind of energy that drives mortal beings into murderous madness is similar in many ways to the Sa’arpools used by the N’Garai. This may reveal what sort of thing lies on the other side of the three Sa’arpools on Earth. I would speculate that the Torch’s description of his experience convinced Professor Jefferson that he’d created a portal to hell, and he then destroyed his dimensional-rift generator out of religious conviction. Sun Girl and the Human Torch then team up to help the Patcher family in <i>Captain America Comics</i> #69. Sun Girl returns to Appalachia in the last four panels of the second story in <i>Marvel Mystery Comics</i> #88.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>December 1948 –</b> Sun Girl and the Human Torch defeat the Granite Bandit in the first story in <i>Marvel Mystery Comics</i> #89. Sun Girl’s hours-long imprisonment inside a shell of stone suggests that she cannot die from suffocation. In the second story in the same issue, Sun Girl works alone to stop Kain’s invasion of Earth. It is here revealed that her “sunbeam ray” is a devastating weapon rather than just a powerful flashlight. Sun Girl and the Human Torch get involved when two old-school gangsters try to kill each other in <i>Sub-Mariner Comics</i> #29. Sun Girl then stops the rampaging gorilla (I believe the <i>King Kong</i> elements of the story are exaggerated) and captures the obnoxious “Peanuts” McCoy in the two stories in <i>Sun Girl</i> #3, the last issue of her solo series.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>January 1949 –</b> Sun Girl and the Human Torch rescue President Truman from a dimension with the unlikely name of “Flatula,” they stop the murderous crime spree of a comedian with the unlikely name of “Mark Funny,” and she goes it alone (while in bondage) against the unlikely threat of the gold-eating alien brain-master in the three rather crude tales presented in <i>Human Torch Comics</i> #34. The location of the Hopi Reservation is misidentified in the story as New Mexico rather than Arizona.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>February 1949 –</b> Sun Girl and the Human Torch take a ski trip to Europe and fight a big baby in the first story in <i>Marvel Mystery Comics</i> #90. She then visits Professor Lowe’s observatory in the first part of the second story in the same issue. Her visit with Ches Bradwyck occurs in the last panel of the second story in <i>Sun Girl</i> #2.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>March 1949 –</b> The adventure at Professor Lowe’s observatory picks up a month later in the second part of the second story in <i>Marvel Mystery Comics</i> #90. Sun Girl and the Human Torch then travel to Los Angeles for some reason (and foil some corporate shenanigans along the way) in <i>Human Torch Comics</i> #35, at which point that series was cancelled.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>April 1949 –</b> Sun Girl and the Human Torch have their last adventure together in <i>Marvel Mystery Comics</i> #91, taking on the clownish Dizzy Daze.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>May 1949 –</b> We next see Sun Girl in an odd little two-page featurette published a year and half later in <i>Marvel Tales</i> #97. (<i>Marvel Mystery Comics</i> was re-christened after it was converted into a horror anthology book). It may well have been pieced together using panels from a leftover story. The Aztecs are misidentified as Incas, and they are said to worship the Egyptian god Ra for some unfathomable reason. Clearly, the writer of this tale didn’t do any research at all, so I fixed it. This would prove to be the character’s final appearance.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>June 1949 –</b> The disappearance of the Human Torch and Toro is revealed a few years later in <i>Young Men</i> #24.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>July 1949 –</b> <i>Captain America Comics</i> also came to an end at this time, drawing the curtain down on Marvel’s Golden Age of Superheroes.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>August 1949 –</b> Thor’s banishment to Earth is first shown in <i>Thor</i> #159 and revisited much later in <i>Thor</i> #415. I place it at this point in the chronology to have enough time for Donald Blake to complete his medical education and establish his own private practice before regaining his godly identity in 1962. For more details, see my <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2007/09/omu-thor-year-one.html">Thor chronology</a>.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>October 1949 –</b> The Ásynjur are seen returning to Asgard in <i>Thor</i> #274, which takes place in 1969. It’s possible that Sól is one of the unidentified blond goddesses appearing in that scene. Their role in the plan to stop the Fourth Host of the Celestials from destroying the world is explained in <i>Thor</i> #301.
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To view these events in a wider context, see <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2009/01/omu-ancient-history-4.html">OMU: Ancient History 4</a>.
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<i><b>Next Issue:</b> <a href="https://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2020/06/omu-ant-man-year-five.html">Ant-Man – Year Five</a></i>
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<br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-47396204455953642582020-02-14T10:13:00.000-06:002020-02-14T10:13:03.641-06:00OMU History: Avengers 1966The Fifth Annual Avengers Christmas Charity Benefit, December 1966.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9a9F-7IgFUw/XkLhkyiXHOI/AAAAAAAABCo/z3B-klnGUZgZfGNWfL7gHB5ZwqEPF939ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Avengers-1966.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Vision, Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Swordsman, and Mantis standing in front of an Avengers Mansion fireplace next to a Christmas tree." border="0" data-original-height="548" data-original-width="1000" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9a9F-7IgFUw/XkLhkyiXHOI/AAAAAAAABCo/z3B-klnGUZgZfGNWfL7gHB5ZwqEPF939ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Avengers-1966.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="padding-left: 20px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>L to R:</b> Vision, Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Swordsman, Mantis</span></span>
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<br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-20035775523440576072020-01-15T10:13:00.013-06:002023-12-15T10:36:47.905-06:00OMU: Scarlet Witch -- Part FiveThe <b>Scarlet Witch</b> struggles with anti-mutant prejudice over the next twelve months of her career and becomes something of a pariah among her teammates in the Avengers when she meets fear with loathing. Following another humiliating experience at the hands of Magneto and the breakdown of her relationship with her twin brother Quicksilver, Wanda is unable to deal with the public backlash after her romance with the android Vision makes headlines. Worse, a fanatical “human-supremacist” terrorist group pushes her past her breaking point, sending Wanda into an emotional tailspin. She becomes bitter and intolerant, routinely making bigoted comments about the failings of <i>Homo sapiens</i>, and the Vision’s cold, analytical responses only stoke Wanda’s anger. It even reaches the point where their love affair starts to buckle under the stress. A turning point is reached, though, when Wanda receives some startling revelations about her origins.
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<b>Note:</b> The following timeline depicts the <b>Original Marvel Universe</b> (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2004/12/the-original-marvel-universe.html">previous posts</a> for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
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Here, then, is the fifth installment of… <b>The True History of the Scarlet Witch!</b>
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<b>January 1966 –</b> The Scarlet Witch’s search for her missing brother, Quicksilver, finally ends one morning when Thor interrupts an Avengers training session to summon her to the communications room. Also accompanied by the Vision, Captain America, Iron Man, and the Black Panther, Wanda enters to see Pietro on the large viewscreen, calling from the Great Refuge of the Inhumans. Standing next to him is Crystal, the Human Torch’s ex-girlfriend and a member of the Inhumans’ royal family. Wanda’s heart leaps for joy and she feels a tide of relief wash over her as Pietro explains that he has been unable to contact her before now since he’s been recovering from near-fatal wounds sustained while attempting to rescue Wanda from the Sentinels’ Australian base last October. Crystal rescued him with the help of her teleporting dog Lockjaw, he reveals, and has nursed him back to health. Wanda is overjoyed to hear that Pietro and Crystal have fallen in love and are planning on getting married, and she announces that she, too, has fallen in love—with the Vision. Pietro is unexpectedly angered by this declaration, leading to an argument that makes the rest of the Avengers rather uncomfortable. Finally, Pietro flatly forbids the match and hangs up on her. Vision moves in to comfort Wanda as she starts to cry. Suddenly, the team receives a transmission from the X-Men’s secret headquarters, which has been trashed in a battle. Their leader, Professor X, speaks defiantly to the villain who is filming him, but then the screen goes dark. The Avengers agree to seek out the X-Men’s mansion and do what they can to help their fellow superheroes.
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En route to the secluded estate in Westchester County, Cap tries to reassure Wanda that she doesn’t have to play by her brother’s rules—if Pietro can’t accept her relationship with the Vision, that’s his choice, not hers. Wanda appreciates Cap’s efforts but tries to focus her mind on the mission at hand. When the Avengers arrive, they quickly discover Professor X, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, and Iceman in the wreckage, all of whom appear to be comatose. Iron Man carries out a winged man they assume to be the Angel, only to face four rampaging dinosaurs that are under the control of a sort of Pied Piper figure who emerges from the woods. After defeating the dinosaurs, the Avengers try to capture the Piper, but they are stopped by Magneto, who is wearing the Angel’s black-and-white costume and laughing about how he fooled Iron Man with a pair of false wings. Wanda is horrified to see her tormentor again, having dreaded this moment since he disappeared after raiding a government research facility in the Pacific Northwest a year ago. Announcing that he is kidnapping the X-Men, Magneto grabs Wanda and uses his powers to send Iron Man crashing into Captain America, knocking them both out. Then, covering his escape with a flurry of boulders, Magneto carries Wanda and his six other prisoners into the Quinjet and takes off. The villain laughs maniacally and boasts of his new mind-control powers as Wanda tries desperately to rouse Cap, Iron Man, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, and Professor X. Finally, she feels her own will being sapped away, knowing that she will soon be Magneto’s helpless slave.
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Wanda struggles to resist as Magneto marches his new superhero slaves into his underground lair, but to no avail. As the others watch impassively, Wanda burns with shame as she is forced to dance for the villain’s perverse enjoyment. His obsequious lackey, Piper, also enjoys the lewd display, adding to Wanda’s humiliation. She dreads to think what she will be made to do that night, remembering the previous times Magneto had her in his power. After nightfall, however, Magneto orders his slaves back aboard the stolen Quinjet and flies them to another remote mansion where a meeting of the Atomic Energy Commission is being held. The Secret Service agents on the scene are easily defeated, and the commissioners are being marched to the Quinjet when the Vision, Thor, and the Black Panther storm in, accompanied by the Black Widow and Daredevil. Unfortunately, they fail to prevent Magneto from kidnapping the commissioners. Thor pursues their airship but is forced to disengage when Iron Man dangles Captain America out of the hatch. Wanda is sickened by the way they are being used like puppets, but try as she might, she cannot break free of Magneto’s control.
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In his subterranean headquarters, Magneto rants and raves to the commissioners about his plan to inundate the world with radiation, thereby killing off 92% of the human race and turning the few survivors into mutants that he can rule. Wanda can only wonder what has happened to Magneto, as he seems highly erratic and hardly the man she remembers. As the villain concentrates on taking over the minds of the commissioners, Wanda is relieved when Thor, the Black Panther, the Black Widow, and Daredevil come crashing into the hideout, though she immediately worries about what has become of the Vision, who is conspicuously absent. Magneto then directs her and her fellow captives to attack their rescuers, seeming as though he merely finds the battle amusing. When Magneto easily brings the Black Widow under his control, Wanda starts to lose heart. However, Piper calmly walks up behind Magneto and knocks him out with a karate chop to the back of the neck. To Wanda’s relief, Vision then phases out of Piper’s body, explaining that he used his ability to alter his density to effect his own form of mind control. Professor X then places Magneto into a telepathically induced coma, freeing Wanda and the others from the villain’s mental domination. The Professor is concerned when Iron Man notes that they found no trace of the Angel in the wrecked mansion, as his disappearance remains unexplained. The X-Men then take the unconscious Magneto and Piper back to their nearby headquarters. Captain America conveys the Avengers’ thanks to Daredevil and the Black Widow and offers them full membership on the team. Daredevil declines but the Black Widow accepts, causing a rift between them. Daredevil leaves in a huff, and later the Black Panther arranges for a Quinjet to take him back to San Francisco. Thoroughly exhausted, Wanda falls into the Vision’s arms, grateful to have been rescued from Magneto’s clutches before he could molest her again. However, she still considers the abuse she suffered in the past to be her deepest, darkest secret.
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Back at Avengers Mansion, Wanda intervenes to spare the Black Widow from Iron Man’s lecherous attentions. While showing Natasha to the room that the butler, Edwin Jarvis, has prepared for her, Wanda gushes about her love affair with the Vision but immediately regrets it when she remembers that the Black Widow has just broken up with Daredevil. They are distracted when a mob of African-American militants pounds on the front door, demanding that the Black Panther come outside. Before the Avengers can react, the mob breaks down the door and opens fire with rifles. The Scarlet Witch and Iron Man drive them back, but they continue to chant that the Black Panther must return to Africa, where his people need him. As the situation escalates, a man in a trenchcoat emerges from the crowd and forces the Black Panther to worship him. The man suddenly transforms into a gigantic armored demon who calls himself the “Lion God,” then teleports away with the Black Panther, leaving the mob disoriented and confused. As the crowd disperses, the frustrated Avengers realize the people had been entranced by the Lion God just as the Black Panther was. As Captain America leaves to consult with S.H.I.E.L.D., Scarlet Witch follows the other Avengers to their conference room for a strategy session. However, it’s not long before the Lion God appears, with the Black Panther his helpless prisoner, and attacks them. After quickly taking out Thor and the Vision, the Lion God causes two lions to materialize and sets them on the rest of the team. Iron Man is knocked out while saving the Black Widow from one of the lions. Black Panther breaks out of his shackles and saves Wanda from the other lion while she is tending to the unconscious Vision, but she and the Black Widow are almost immediately knocked out by another blast from the villain’s totem-stick. When she comes to, Wanda finds that Thor managed to defeat the Lion God by blowing up his totem-stick with a lightning strike, which caused their foe to vanish in a burst of blinding light. Thor assumes the Lion God has been destroyed, but Iron Man isn’t convinced and decides to have some additional security devices installed throughout the mansion. Wanda is very disappointed when the Black Widow resigns from the team to return to San Francisco to be with Daredevil, as she enjoyed having another woman around the mansion to talk to.
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<b>February 1966 –</b> Wanda is surprised when Pietro arrives at Avengers Mansion towards the middle of the month, intent on talking her out of her love affair with their synthezoid teammate. The twins argue for an entire day, but neither is willing to budge and their exchange becomes increasingly heated. Vision maintains a respectful distance throughout, but Thor becomes concerned that the twins will both say something they’ll regret. Thus, he makes sure that Captain America and the Black Panther are on hand the next day for Sunday brunch. Wanda is clearly distraught and Pietro is sullen as Jarvis serves the meal. Suddenly, the entire building is transported to the 23rd century by Kang the Conqueror. With the element of surprise, Kang is able to knock out everyone in the mansion. Wanda awakens sometime later to find herself and her teammates in the shattered remains of a bank of stasis tubes in Kang’s fortress. Iron Man is now among them, obviously having been captured as well. They have been freed by Black Bolt, Gorgon, Karnak, and Triton of the Inhumans, while Kang lies defeated under some rubble nearby. Spider-Man then enters, having captured Thor’s old foe Zarrko the Tomorrow Man. However, as Spider-Man hustles everyone out of the citadel for transport back to the 20th century, they discover that Kang tricked them with a robot double and made good his escape. The voice of the real Kang then mocks them over the loudspeaker. As Zarrko is turned over to the local authorities, Spider-Man explains how he and the Human Torch tracked down and destroyed three chronal-displacement bombs that Zarrko sent back to the 20th century to destroy civilization, after which Black Bolt’s brother, Maximus the Mad, was able to convert one of the bombs into a crude but effective time machine. Suddenly, with a blinding flash of light, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Vision, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Black Panther, Spider-Man, and Jarvis find themselves back on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, standing outside Avengers Mansion. Assuming the Inhumans returned directly to their Great Refuge in the Himalayas, Thor notes that the team owes them a profound debt of gratitude. Feeling slighted, Spider-Man makes a wise-ass remark and swings away. Entering their headquarters, the Avengers find they’ve been gone for two days. Realizing that his arguments are falling on deaf ears, Pietro issues Wanda an ultimatum and storms out to return to the Inhumans’ hidden city. Devastated, Wanda retires to her bedroom and sobs until the Vision comes to comfort her. She clings to him, feeling that he’s all she has left.
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<br />Scarlet Witch, Vision, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and Black Panther respond when the Avengers are called in by the city to make repairs to the Statue of Liberty, which was heavily damaged by a giant monster a few months ago. A mishap causes the statue’s right hand to break off and plummet toward Wanda. Vision swoops in to rescue her as their teammates deal with the falling debris. Overcome with passion, Wanda embraces the Vision and kisses him, much to the shock of the crowds watching from below. By the time the heroes return to Avengers Mansion, news of the romance between the mutant woman and the android man has spread like wildfire. The next day, they receive mountains of mail expressing all manner of views on the relationship, some of it positive. Wanda admits to the Vision that she had expected much more negativity from the general public due to pervasive anti-mutant prejudice and is feeling cautiously optimistic. He expresses his own apprehensions about the shifting tides of public opinion. When some of New York’s more obnoxious residents appear at the mansion’s front door, Iron Man and the Black Panther send them away. After a few days, the hubbub dies down.
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<b>March 1966 –</b> Wanda celebrates her 16th birthday, though she continues to claim to have forgotten how old she is, not wanting her teammates to treat her like a junior member. She feels rather melancholy, though, as this is the first time she and Pietro have not celebrated their birthday together. Worse, they’re not even on speaking terms. Vision is very attentive, though, and helps her keep her spirits up.
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<br />Scarlet Witch and Vision join Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and the Black Panther when they go out to stop a gang of neo-Nazis that is beating up Jews in the street. The Avengers make short work of the neo-Nazis, but suddenly they are rushed by a suicide bomber who detonates the explosives strapped to her chest and seriously damages the Vision, who appears to have been her target. Wanda is shocked and horrified, but Thor and Iron Man think they can save the Vision by working from the schematics Ant-Man drew up after his explorations of the synthezoid’s interior last year. Cradling the Vision in his arms, Iron Man flies at once to the Long Island laboratories of Stark Industries. Desperate to make some sense of the situation, Wanda asks Thor if he, being something more than human, has any insight into why anyone would do such a thing. The thunder god responds that it seems to be blind, unreasoning hatred and nothing more. As Thor flies off to fetch the surgeon Donald Blake, Wanda feels such a hatred swelling in her heart—a hatred for that evolutionary dead end called <i>Homo sapiens</i>.
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Shortly after arriving at Stark Industries, Wanda is called into a sophisticated laboratory where the Black Panther, Don Blake, and Tony Stark are feeding concentrated solar energy directly into the jewel on the Vision’s forehead. Unfortunately, they report, the Vision had begun to increase his density just before the explosion, and it remains too high for them to penetrate his flesh. Thus, Wanda takes the Vision’s hand and whispers into his ear, gently pleading with him to relax. The tactic works, and Blake is soon able to make an incision into the patient’s chest cavity. The men work feverishly for some time while Wanda watches anxiously. When they hear an explosion outside, Wanda runs out to see what’s going on and discovers that more suicide bombers have come to finish the Vision off. Outraged, Wanda slams the intruders battling Captain America with a hex blast, then returns to the lab to warn the others. Stark steps out to summon Iron Man to lend a hand, and when he returns several minutes later, he suggests that Blake see if he can find Thor. After Blake has left, Stark encourages the Scarlet Witch and the Black Panther to join the fray as well, insisting that he can finish the repairs on his own. They do so, and within a few minutes, the last of the bombers detonate their explosives and kill themselves. The Avengers are shocked by such reckless fanaticism. A few minutes later, Stark emerges from the laboratory to announce that the Vision should make a full recovery. Wanda’s relief is overwhelmed by an indignant rage, and she rants about the way the Vision has been treated—even by her own brother—despite his many heroic acts. Shaking with anger and grief, she storms out and slams the door. She spends the rest of the month helping the Vision through his recovery. With all the suicide bombers dead, the Avengers are unable to learn anything more about their motives.
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<b>April 1966 –</b> Wanda realizes that she’s coming around to Pietro’s way of thinking about non-mutants, having previously dismissed his rants as foolishness. She suspects that part of Crystal’s appeal is that Pietro would never have to live among humans as long as they’re together, which prompts her to fantasize about retreating with the Vision to some remote tropical island. Passing the team’s combat-simulation room, she finds Captain America and Iron Man putting the Vision through his paces to judge whether he has recovered enough to return to active duty. Wanda is offended when Captain America makes a big deal about how different the Vision is from an ordinary man, feeling that even their so-called friends seem to go out of their way to make the couple feel like freaks. Throwing on some street clothes, Wanda storms out of the mansion and goes for a walk down Fifth Avenue. Outside a construction site, though, she is harassed by a couple of construction workers. Their obscene comments make Wanda’s rage boil over and she unleashes a hex bolt on them, sending one man crashing into a nearby hot dog cart. The second man manages to slap Wanda down before she can defend herself, but a willowy Vietnamese woman calling herself Mantis appears out of nowhere and easily takes out the burly construction worker with an astonishing display of martial arts prowess. Mantis then walks Wanda back to the mansion, where they are met by the Vision, Cap, Iron Man, Thor, and the Black Panther. Suddenly, Mantis’s lover, the Swordsman, saunters in, insisting that he’s reformed and petitioning to join the team (legitimately this time) as Hawkeye’s replacement. Cap tells the former super-villain to keep dreaming, but Wanda objects, accusing Cap of being ruled by his prejudices. Iron Man is forced to concur, pointing out that the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Hawkeye, and the Black Widow were all considered “villains” before getting a shot at redemption. When Thor volunteers to take full responsibility for the Swordsman’s behavior during a probationary period, Cap grudgingly bows to the will of the majority. Glad to have another woman to talk to, Wanda assures Mantis that she’s welcome there, even if she’s not interested in joining the team. After a week of working closely together, Thor recommends that the Swordsman be granted all the privileges of Avengers membership. Despite Cap’s reservations, the team votes to induct him into their ranks and all agree to trust that the Swordsman really has reformed.
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A week or so later, the Avengers see a news report of Hawkeye and the Hulk on the waterfront battling a giant creature made of electricity. They discuss the fact that the archer has returned to New York without contacting them, indicating that he really does intend to go his own way from now on. Suddenly, the Lion God smashes into the chamber, apparently abetted by the Swordsman and Mantis. Shocked, Wanda takes it as evidence that non-mutants simply can’t be trusted. She is astonished when Mantis takes out Thor with her martial arts skills. The Lion God then blasts Iron Man into unconsciousness with searing energy rays from his hunting spear. As the Vision falls to the Swordsman, Mantis knocks out Captain America and the Scarlet Witch with painless nerve-pinches. When she regains consciousness, Wanda learns that, with the help of the Swordsman and Mantis, Iron Man was able to trap the Lion God within an adamantium cylinder until Thor could banish him to another dimension. Mantis explains that she had sensed a malignant force lurking around the mansion and worked with the Swordsman to lure it out into the open. They then pretended to cooperate with the Lion God, planning all the while to turn the tables on him at the crucial moment. Impressed by the couple’s daring, Thor expresses the team’s profound gratitude. Cap is clearly still suspicious, but the others agree that, if nothing else, the Swordsman and Mantis have earned the benefit of the doubt.
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<b>May 1966 –</b> Realizing that no one’s heard from the Black Knight in several months, the Avengers decide to return to Garrett Castle in England to check up on him. As soon as their Quinjet enters British airspace, though, they are harassed by S.H.I.E.L.D., which objects to the Swordsman and Mantis, both of whom have criminal records, entering the United Kingdom. Fortunately, the Avengers are able to clear the matter up and soon touch down in a meadow outside the castle. However, they are surprised to discover the entire structure is surrounded by an invisible force field which they are unable to penetrate. Mantis performs some kind of mystic probe and determines that the barrier was erected by Doctor Strange. Suddenly, a large group of ragged, primitive-looking men with medieval weapons streams out of camouflaged holes in the ground and attacks the heroes, knocking them out with crude bombs that release a potent toxic gas. When she comes to, Scarlet Witch finds she and her teammates being held prisoner in a network of caverns, presumably beneath the Black Knight’s estate. The primitives are upset because the force field is preventing them from looting the castle’s storehouses, which is how they’ve sustained themselves since retreating underground to escape persecution hundreds of years ago. Wanda realizes that generations of inbreeding has caused the cave-dwellers to become savage barbarians, but their toxic gas prevents most of her teammates from fighting back. Luckily, Vision, Thor, and Mantis seem immune to its effects, and they hold off a giant insectoid monster long enough for the Black Panther to force their captors to surrender. The Avengers march the defeated barbarians back to the surface, where they call in medical and government aid for the lost tribe. The barbarian king informs the Avengers that the Black Knight was taken away by people in weird costumes before the castle was sealed off by the invisible wall. The heroes decide to head at once to Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum back in New York to ask him about it.
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However, when the Avengers reach the sorcerer’s home in Greenwich Village, they are repelled by a mysterious force. Thor smashes down the front door with his hammer and forces his way inside, where Mantis roughs up Doctor Strange’s Chinese butler. They catch of glimpse of the Black Knight in an interior room, having apparently been turned to stone, and assume that Doctor Strange is responsible. Before they can react, though, the Avengers are ejected from the building by hurricane-force winds. Thor rages at the unseen sorcerer, saying they will return when they’ve figured out how to overcome his magic, and then the Avengers go back to their headquarters, seething with indignation. Shortly afterwards, a psychic projection of Loki materializes in the mansion to warn the Avengers that Doctor Strange is leading a cabal of super-powered misfits on a quest to obtain the six segments of the legendary weapon known as the Evil Eye of Avalon, which has the power to destroy the world. Joining the mysterious master of black magic is the bestial Hulk, whose hatred for humanity is well known; the savage Sub-Mariner, who has long warred against the human race; the Silver Surfer, the bitter alien imprisoned on Earth; the Valkyrie, who desires revenge for her defeat at the hands of the Avengers a couple years ago; and even their former teammate Hawkeye, who wants to strike back at those he believes betrayed him. Though Thor is not inclined to believe anything his adopted brother says, the other Avengers convince him that they should check it out.
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Thus, Scarlet Witch and Vision take a Quinjet to the island of Rurutu in French Polynesia while their teammates cover the other five locations provided by Loki. Upon arrival, Vision expresses his doubts about Loki’s claims, but Wanda is not inclined to trust Doctor Strange or any of his associates. Vision then phases through the fuselage and flies off to search the island. Piloting the craft over an active volcano, Wanda is caught off guard by a sudden explosive eruption. The Quinjet is completely destroyed, but Wanda manages to bail out before losing consciousness. When she comes to, Vision informs her that the Silver Surfer caused the eruption and has escaped with a segment of the Evil Eye. Having located the wreckage of the Quinjet, Vision treats Wanda’s burns, then radios a warning to the other Avengers. Wanda confesses that she’s frightened by the thought of going up against such powerful foes. Vision concurs, hoping that their teammates fare better than they did.
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A little while later, Captain America arrives in a Quinjet to pick the couple up. They are surprised to find he is accompanied by the Sub-Mariner, who has one of the Evil Eye segments. They explain that Loki has duped both teams into working against each other, confirming the Vision’s suspicions. After collecting Iron Man, the Black Panther, the Swordsman, and Mantis, they fly back to New York, where the Sub-Mariner leads them into Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum without incident. They find the sorcerer, Hawkeye, the Silver Surfer, and the Valkyrie in a well-appointed sitting room. Wanda notices the Black Knight, turned to stone, standing in a corner of the room. Sub-Mariner informs his shocked teammates that Loki told the Avengers that their team, which they call the Defenders, was out to conquer the world. Valkyrie assures the Avengers that they sought out the Evil Eye only so they could use its mystical power to release the Black Knight from the petrification spell placed on him by the Enchantress. Wanda is confused, since she remembers the Valkyrie being merely an illusion the Enchantress used to disguise herself, but such matters are explained as the two teams get to know each other better over the next half hour. The Silver Surfer apologizes for inadvertently putting the Scarlet Witch in danger and explains what actually happened in Rurutu. Finally, Iron Man realizes that Thor and the Hulk are still out on the battlefield and could be laying waste to Los Angeles at that very moment. Thus, Doctor Strange weaves a spell that teleports everyone out to California.
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There, they find Thor and the Hulk locked in a stalemate, each one’s super-strong muscles straining against the other’s as they grapple, but Doctor Strange convinces them to stand down. The Avengers and the Defenders then compare notes and realize that Thor was fighting Loki in Rutland, Vermont, last Halloween at the same time that the Defenders were battling Dormammu there. They speculate that the two arch-villains must have teamed up. Their suspicions are confirmed when the six segments of the Evil Eye are suddenly stolen by Dormammu’s servant Asti the All-Seeing. Despite the best efforts of the assembled heroes, Asti escapes with the segments into another dimension. Almost immediately, the city around them begins to transform into a nightmarish world of horror, the people metamorphosing into monstrous demons. An image of Dormammu’s flaming head appears in the sky, announcing that he is using the Evil Eye to bring Earth into his Dark Dimension, thereby enabling him to conquer the planet without violating his oath to never invade our universe. The Avengers and the Defenders vow to prevent this at any cost. However, the transformed bystanders begin to attack the heroes, forcing them to fight back. Scarlet Witch helps keep the monsters at bay while Doctor Strange casts a spell to prevent any of the 14 superheroes present from changing into monsters themselves. The sorcerer then tries to convince Captain America that both teams need to take the fight directly to Dormammu in the Dark Dimension. Cap is reluctant to abandon the earth in such a time of crisis but relents when Nick Fury and the forces of S.H.I.E.L.D. arrive on the scene. Leaving Fury and his agents to deal with the monsters, Doctor Strange casts a spell to transport the Avengers and the Defenders into Dormammu’s realm.
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In the weird landscape of the Dark Dimension, Doctor Strange yells at the headstrong Avengers to keep them from blundering to their doom, prompting Thor to order his teammates to defer to the sorcerer’s expertise. Then, after beating off the numberless hordes of the Mindless Ones, the heroes find Dormammu brandishing the Evil Eye, with Loki imprisoned in a cage of flames. To everyone’s surprise, the Watcher is also present, looking on enigmatically. Doctor Strange manages to breach the mystic barrier separating them, but with one wave of his hand, Dormammu’s augmented magic instantly renders the six Defenders unconscious. Undaunted, Thor leads the Avengers in a desperate charge, but Dormammu turns the ground under their feet into quicksand. Thor, Iron Man, and Scarlet Witch avoid the trap, and she calls to the Vision to free himself. However, the synthezoid is in the grip of some kind of panic attack, which unnerves Wanda. Nevertheless, she presses on with Thor and Iron Man, only to see the two men quickly fall to Dormammu’s power. Finding herself the last hero left standing, Scarlet Witch continues her advance until Dormammu conjures up a rain of glue to stop her. As the sticky fluid starts to harden, Wanda struggles to raise her arms. Luckily, Dormammu is distracted when Loki escapes from the flaming cage and grapples with his captor. Summoning all her will power, Wanda casts her most powerful hex bolt, enveloping the villains in a dazzling sphere of mutant energy. There is a flash of light and then Dormammu is gone, leaving Loki gibbering like a madman. As the Avengers and the Defenders regroup, the Watcher congratulates the 14 heroes on their great victory. He explains that the hex caused the Evil Eye to malfunction, whereupon it disintegrated Dormammu, absorbed his mystical energies, and blasted them out again straight through Loki’s brain. The Asgardian god’s mind has been shattered, leaving him with the intellect of an infant. And though Dormammu’s corporeal form has been destroyed, the Watcher warns, he will eventually reintegrate himself with the aid of his many black-hearted worshipers. The Watcher then asks the Vision about his panic attack, but he’s at a loss to understand it. Though she is sympathetic, Wanda is deeply concerned that the Vision froze up in the middle of a fight and feels that he has let her down for the first time. Doctor Strange then retrieves the Evil Eye and casts a spell that returns the two teams to Los Angeles.
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The Avengers and the Defenders materialize on the same street in L.A. to find the crisis is over. The people who had been transformed into monsters have reverted to normal and are wandering around the rubble-strewn streets in a daze. Nick Fury offers the two teams his congratulations on their victory, but Wanda is very ungracious about it. Then, wishing to keep the existence of the Defenders a secret, Doctor Strange removes all memory of their involvement from Fury and his agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as well as any bystanders who witnessed their presence earlier in the day. Furthermore, he combines the power of the Evil Eye with his own sorcerous might to undo all damage and destruction the world over caused by Dormammu’s scheme, leaving everyone believing they had just suffered a mass hallucination. Finally, after bidding farewell to the Avengers, Strange teleports his team back to his Sanctum Sanctorum to attend to the Black Knight. The Avengers borrow a jet from S.H.I.E.L.D. and return to New York as well. Unfortunately, since they do not arrive in a Quinjet, the Avengers are unable to deactivate their mansion’s rooftop security systems ahead of time. Luckily, Black Panther is able to do it manually. Wanda chides Thor for not having been more alert, insulting “humans” in the process. Vision is surprised by her outburst, but Cap blows it off as post-battle nerves. For her part, Wanda doesn’t care what her teammates think of her, she just wants to be left alone for a while. Then, as Thor and Jarvis get Loki settled into Hawkeye’s old bedroom, Wanda retreats to her own quarters and breaks down crying.
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The Avengers are extremely wary of Loki at first, expecting treachery from their old foe, but as time passes, he gives no sign of faking his mental disability. Eventually, Thor decides to take his brother on an extended camping trip to Scandinavia. Near the end of the month, Iron Man informs the Avengers about the threat of Thanos, a renegade from a utopian society hidden inside Saturn’s moon Titan. Thanos is planning to conquer the solar system, he reports, and he has already battled two of Thanos’s agents, vicious aliens called the Blood Brothers. With the help of another alien called Drax the Destroyer, Iron Man drove the villains off and destroyed their New Mexico base, but Thanos is reputed to lead a mercenary army assembled from the dregs of interstellar society and thus remains a clear and present danger to Earth.
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<b>June 1966 –</b> Scarlet Witch and Vision are with Captain America, Iron Man, and the Black Panther at Avengers Mansion when Rick Jones’s girlfriend, Lou-Ann Savannah, shows up on the verge of exhaustion and babbling about Thanos. The young woman passes out, and while examining her, Iron Man discovers one of the Controller’s slave-discs attached to the nape of Lou-Ann’s neck. Realizing his old foe has returned, Iron Man places her under a device intended to partially inhibit the disc’s operation. She is still there a little while later when Captain Marvel arrives at the mansion, his costume badly shredded in a fight. He quickly switches interdimensional places with Rick Jones, who informs the Avengers that he, Lou-Ann, and Captain Marvel have indeed gotten mixed up with Thanos, who sees conquering Earth merely as a stepping stone to galactic domination. Rick trades places with Captain Marvel again as they head to the Avengers’ conference room for a full briefing. Wanda presents the Kree hero with a replica of his costume which she had made previously, having always found sewing to be a relaxing hobby. After changing clothes, Captain Marvel then informs the team that Thanos has come to Earth in search of the Cosmic Cube, which the Avengers know could make him invincible. The meeting is interrupted by the Controller, who has broken into the mansion. Scarlet Witch is knocked out in the fight, and when she awakens, she discovers that part of their headquarters has been completely demolished and she and her teammates are buried in the wreckage. As they dig themselves out, the heroes are frustrated to learn that the Controller kidnapped Lou-Ann and escaped. The Avengers notice that Captain Marvel’s hair has changed from silver to blond, but he says only that he’s had a strange experience that’s given him a new perspective. Work on reconstructing Avengers Mansion begins immediately, coordinated by the various charitable foundations Tony Stark has set up for such emergencies. Captain Marvel soon defeats the Controller and rescues Lou-Ann.
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<b>July 1966 –</b> Chaos erupts in the Middle East when a group of super-powered terrorists dubbed the Elementals seals off the Egyptian capital, Cairo, behind an impenetrable force field. The United Nations requests that the Avengers mobilize when the terrorists launch attacks on neighboring countries like Israel and the Sudan but is reluctant to send the team in for fear of making international tensions in the region worse. Ultimately, freedom fighters within Cairo manage to liberate the city and defeat the Elementals, though details remain sketchy.
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<b>August–September 1966 –</b> As the team’s headquarters is reconstructed, Wanda is irritated by all the “human” workmen traipsing around her home, so she spends a lot of her time sequestered in her room. Vision encourages her to have patience, as the work is progressing rapidly.
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<b>October 1966 –</b> Thor returns from his Scandinavian camping trip with the catatonic Loki. Then, on Halloween, Mantis senses mystic emanations that portend great danger in Rutland, Vermont. Remembering the events of previous years, the Avengers decide they’d better check it out. When they arrive, Tom Fagan, one of the parade’s organizers, asks them to ride on one of the floats. Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and Black Panther agree, hoping to draw out the source of the unknown danger. However, Wanda refuses, not wanting to spend the next few hours being gawked at by humans. Vision, Swordsman, and Mantis agree to accompany her on a search of the town using their own methods, and so the two couples set off. About two hours later, Wanda lashes out at some persistent autograph hounds, scattering them with a hex bolt. Shocked, Swordsman and Mantis decide to split off on their own. Wanda then grouses to the Vision about how people treat them and tells him of her wish that they could just go live on some South Seas island far away from the human race. When Vision responds by chiding her for meeting bigotry with bigotry, Wanda is hurt and angry. Their argument is interrupted when the Swordsman and Mantis call them into the woods, where they have found the real Tom Fagan bound and gagged. They realize that some super-villain, disguised as Fagan, has led the other Avengers into a trap. Vision takes charge of the situation, and they soon free their teammates from the diabolical mastermind, who turns out to be the Collector, while Fagan and a crowd of costumed partygoers provide a distraction. The Collector activates two magic stones that produce a swarm of vampire bats that threaten the entire town, hoping to barter for his freedom. However, Mantis kicks the villain in the face and knocks him out, then uses the magic stones to make the bats vanish again. The real Tom Fagan thanks the Avengers for saving the city and offers them any further assistance he can provide. Thor asks Fagan if he would be willing to take over caring for Loki, feeling that Rutland would be a more appropriate setting for his disabled brother. Fagan agrees, so the Avengers return to their Quinjet and fly back to New York. Unfortunately, the Collector escapes as soon as he regains consciousness.
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<b>November 1966 –</b> In the morning, Captain America and Thor take a Quinjet and fly Loki up to Rutland, Vermont. Sometime later, Cap holds a strategy session in which the team reviews their clash in the spring with the Defenders and how they all worked together to defeat the combined might of Loki and Dormammu.
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Not long after, Scarlet Witch and Vision are shocked to learn that Captain America has been arrested for murder. Sgt. Damian Link, the team’s new liaison officer with the NYPD, comes to meet with them. However, Swordsman soon exposes Link as Gemini, one of the twelve leaders of the international crime cartel Zodiac. He manages to evade the Avengers’ attempts to apprehend him until Thor punches him into a wall, leaving the villain extremely disoriented. Unfortunately, Gemini is rescued by the rest of Zodiac—Aquarius, Cancer, Capricorn, Libra, Leo, Pisces, Sagittarius, Taurus, Virgo, and replacements for Aries and Scorpio—using their powerful “Star-Blazer” energy weapon. The criminals escape, but Taurus leaves behind a tape recording that reveals that they plan to use a giant version of the Star-Blazer weapon, the “Star-Blaster,” to kill everyone in Manhattan born under the sign of Gemini, after which they will announce their demands. Scarlet Witch, Vision, Thor, Iron Man, and Mantis head out to track their foes down, but the Swordsman is too ill to join them. Just before midnight, the Avengers find the Zodiac gang setting up their Star-Blaster cannon on top of the Empire State Building and immediately disable the weapon. Even so, Taurus manages to fire its deadly rays at Mantis, knocking her out. Though Captain America turns up and joins the fray, Aries throws Mantis off the roof. While the Avengers are busy saving her, Zodiac escapes. Captain America assures his teammates he’s been framed but does not accompany them back to the mansion. There, Dr. Donald Blake soon arrives and checks Mantis over. He is shocked to discover she seems to be literally healing herself while in a trance. Iron Man asks the Swordsman to tell them more about Mantis, but he knows little about her past before he met her in a bar in Saigon while he was working for a local crime lord called Monsieur Khruul.
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After the Black Panther has joined them, the Avengers spread out over the city to search for Zodiac’s hidden lair. Just before dawn, Thor summons them to a warehouse in New Jersey, where they find seven members of the cartel meeting with the crooked financier Cornelius Van Lunt. The Avengers crash through the window to take their foes by surprise, but Van Lunt slips out during the fight and seals off the warehouse, revealing it to be a deathtrap. Before the Avengers or the seven members of Zodiac can react, Van Lunt launches the building into orbit. Thor tries to smash through the side of the warehouse, only to discover the building is surrounded by the same kind of force field that Zodiac used when they held Manhattan hostage two years ago. His enchanted hammer passes through the field but then is unable to return to him. Appearing to panic, Thor dives behind some crates and hides under a tarp. The other Avengers and Zodiac are confused by the thunder god’s behavior. Scarlet Witch is able to create a momentary weak spot in the field with her mutant hex power, which allows Iron Man to fly out and retrieve the hammer. Before Iron Man can get back inside, though, Libra arrives in Zodiac’s spaceplane, the Star-Cruiser, and rescues them. Once Thor emerges from his hiding place, everyone joins Libra aboard the Star-Cruiser, and he flies them to Van Lunt’s penthouse. There, Van Lunt is revealed to be Taurus, and though he conspired with Capricorn, Gemini, and Virgo to kill off the other members of the cartel, he convinces his erstwhile partners-in-crime to put aside their differences long enough to destroy the Avengers. However, the Avengers win the fight, which ends when the Vision knocks Taurus into his swimming pool. Taurus panics, though, because he can’t swim, but the Vision makes no move to rescue him. Luckily, Mantis charges in at that moment, dives into the water, and hauls Taurus to the surface. Wanda is shocked and Thor angrily berates the Vision, but the synthezoid offers no defense, even when Wanda presses him on it. Disgusted, Thor demands that Libra explain why he betrayed Taurus and saved them all. Libra admits that it was something of a mistake; he really just wanted to rescue Mantis, having assumed she was with the Avengers—because she is his daughter.
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The Avengers turn the rest of Zodiac over to the police and free Sgt. Damian Link, who had been mind-controlled by the real Gemini, but take Libra back to Avengers Mansion for questioning. There, he explains how he met Mantis’s mother when he was fighting in the First Indochina War as a member of the French Foreign Legion. After a whirlwind romance, they were married, but her brother, the crime lord known as Monsieur Khruul objected to the match and tried to have them killed. Mantis was born while they were on the run. Eventually, Khruul’s assassins caught up to them and killed Libra’s wife, but he and his daughter found refuge in a remote monastery. The monks, who called themselves the Priests of Pama, raised Mantis, teaching her their unique form of martial arts. Finally, Libra admits, he left her there and returned to Europe. Consumed with rage, Mantis attacks Libra, but he subdues her, having learned the same fighting techniques that she did. Suddenly, the Avengers realize that the Swordsman has taken a Quinjet and is heading to Vietnam to take vengeance on Monsieur Khruul. Before they can follow, though, Iron Man must fly to Van Lunt’s property in New Jersey to retrieve their other Quinjet, a delay that Wanda chalks up to “human” ineptitude. When Iron Man returns, the Avengers finally set off, accompanied by Libra.
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When the Avengers arrive at Monsieur Khruul’s villa on the outskirts of Saigon, they find the Swordsman tied to a chair. He admits he broke under torture and told the crime lord about the Priests of Pama and how to find them. Scarlet Witch volunteers to get the Swordsman to a hospital while the others go after Khruul. After the team has left, though, Wanda realizes the Swordsman is having a complete nervous breakdown. He babbles about being a born loser who is losing Mantis’s respect before finally breaking down in tears. Wanda convinces him to go to the hospital and drives him there in one of Monsieur Khruul’s cars. A little while later, the Avengers collect Wanda from the hospital and, leaving the Swordsman there, fly back to New York in their Quinjets. On the way home, Vision tells Wanda that they were too late to save the Priests of Pama, but Monsieur Khruul was killed by an alien dragon called the Star-Stalker, whom the Avengers prevented from destroying the world. Vision reveals that he and Mantis were instrumental in killing the creature before it could feed on the Earth’s life-energies, and though he is characteristically modest about it, Wanda is very proud of her lover’s heroism. When they arrive in New York City, the Avengers turn Libra over to the police. Unwilling to explain what happened to him aboard Zodiac’s warehouse-rocket, Thor decides to move out of Avengers Mansion.
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<b>December 1966 –</b> Scarlet Witch and Vision are at the team’s headquarters with Iron Man and the Black Panther when Captain America returns from his recent battle against the Secret Empire in Washington, D.C. The team congratulates Cap on clearing his name, but he is in no mood to celebrate. Cap says cryptically that there was more to the situation than was revealed on the news, but he refuses to discuss it further. Thor soon returns from a trip to visit Loki in Rutland, Vermont, and then Mantis brings in the Swordsman, who is just back from Vietnam. A little while later, the Avengers meet with Captain Marvel, Drax the Destroyer, and their enigmatic friend Moondragon to discuss the problem of Thanos. Mar-Vell reports that Thanos has conquered the colony on Titan and worse, is now in possession of the Cosmic Cube. However, the strategy session is cut short when Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Drax, and Moondragon suddenly vanish into thin air. The Avengers realize they must have been kidnapped by Thanos. Though unable to find any trace of their missing friends, the Avengers learn from the space station Starcore One that an armada of starships is heading toward Earth from the vicinity of Mars—presumably Thanos’s fleet of space pirates that Captain Marvel warned them about. Deciding to intercept the armada before it reaches Earth, the Avengers take their spaceworthy Quinjet and Zodiac’s confiscated Star-Cruiser out to meet the threat.
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As the battle is joined, Thor leaves the Quinjet and smashes into the command deck of the fleet’s flagship, where he takes on an army of armored aliens singlehandedly. Cap pilots the Quinjet, using aerial dogfight tactics he learned during World War II, but the armada still manages to reach Earth. In high orbit, Cap blasts one of the alien ships with the Quinjet’s energy weapons, but to Wanda’s dismay, it plummets down through the atmosphere and crashes in New York City. The Avengers then detect an amorphous area of utter darkness nearby, so the Vision proposes that he, the Scarlet Witch, the Swordsman, and Mantis don spacesuits and go out to investigate. However, Swordsman shocks everyone by erupting in a fit of jealous rage, accusing the Vision of trying to steal Mantis from him. Vision refuses to discuss it until the mission is over, but Mantis’s reaction makes Wanda suspicious about what went on between the two of them while they were alone together in Vietnam. While probing for a way to penetrate the black field, Wanda tries to get a rise out of the Vision, but he ignores her sarcastic remarks about Mantis. A hex bolt disrupts the unnatural darkness and they discover it is a cloaking field hiding an enormous spaceship. After boarding the ship and fighting off some alien guards, the quartet discovers it serves as the armada’s central universal translator. Vision disables the cloaking field, then they retreat, allowing the Quinjet and the Star-Cruiser to swoop down and blow up the ship. Back aboard the Quinjet, Wanda and the others see that the Vision’s plan has worked—having lost the ability to communicate with each other, Thanos’s mercenaries are unable to act in a coordinated manner. Gaining the upper hand, the Avengers press their attack, and within the hour, the fleet of invading ships has been destroyed, with a handful of survivors in full retreat. Thor returns to the Quinjet, flush with the thrill of victory, and they soon land on the roof of Avengers Mansion.
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Unfortunately, the team quickly discovers that Thanos has used the Cosmic Cube to shift the entire planet out of phase to prevent them from interfering with his plans. The space armada, they realize, was merely a distraction meant to lure the Avengers off Earth while Thanos caused the phase-shift. Still, Mantis is able to contact Captain Marvel and tell him what happened. Captain Marvel and Drax the Destroyer then attack Thanos, their fight soon carrying them away from Avengers Mansion as the team watches helplessly. Mantis sets off after them, and a few minutes later, the phase-shift is abruptly cancelled out. Entering their headquarters, the Avengers discover that Iron Man has returned as well, though he’s not sure how he got there. After comparing notes, they track Mantis to a nearby rooftop, where they find her with Captain Marvel and Drax. Mar-Vell has somehow defeated Thanos by smashing the Cosmic Cube, though he and Mantis give only vague and evasive answers to the Avengers’ questions. As Drax flies off into the night sky, Mar-Vell trades places with Rick Jones, who accompanies the others back to the mansion. Not long afterward, Captain America and Iron Man bring a vintage cryogenic chamber to the team’s headquarters after discovering it in the rubble of an old government research facility that collapsed a few blocks away. Iron Man decides to have some technicians from Stark Industries examine it after the holidays. Rick then says goodbye to the Avengers and sets out on a 15-city concert tour as part of the opening act for a more famous rock-and-roll band.
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Feeling outclassed by the exotic, enigmatic Mantis, Wanda is brooding about her relationship with the Vision when she is summoned to a meeting in the mansion’s living room. There, she finds the Black Panther waiting with the ambassador from Rhodesia, Ronald Pershing. They are quickly joined by the Vision, the Swordsman, and Mantis, but Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man are having a private conference in another room. Pershing then describes the death threats sent recently to the staff of the Rhodesian embassy. The threats took on a new urgency that morning, he reports, when their groundskeeper was found burnt to a crisp. On behalf of the team, Vision agrees to look into the matter. Out in the street, however, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Black Panther, Swordsman, Mantis, and Pershing are suddenly trapped in a force field made of solid sound. Klaw, somehow grown to giant size, looms over them and gloats as his new partner-in-crime, Solarr, hovers nearby inside an energy bubble. Cap, Thor, and Iron Man emerge from the mansion and learn that the villains are threatening to roast their hostages unless the Black Panther surrenders the throne of Wakanda to Klaw, after which he intends to declare war on Rhodesia to pay them back for the harsh treatment he suffered there last year. When the giant Klaw proves to be a sonic illusion, the three senior Avengers leave to search the neighborhood for the real villain. While they are gone, Pershing reveals his white-supremacist views as he tries to badger the Avengers into forcing the Black Panther to accede to their foes’ demands. Worried about what’s going to happen, Wanda insists that the Vision explain what’s going on between him and Mantis, which leads to a lovers’ quarrel. Vision soon cuts off their discussion, though, deciding that Wanda is clearly not in a rational state of mind. She is thus seething with anger when Cap, Thor, and Iron Man return empty-handed. Luckily, Black Panther has deduced that Klaw is, in fact, masquerading as Ambassador Pershing. With their scheme revealed, Klaw and Solarr are quickly defeated, but the Black Panther announces that he must take a leave of absence and return to Wakanda for a while. Thor, as current team chairman, grants the request and calls the Avengers to gather to toast their valiant African comrade. Unfortunately, their celebration is marred when Wanda’s anger boils over and she and the Vision get into another argument about Mantis. The atmosphere around the mansion is still a bit tense a day or two later when Scarlet Witch and Vision join the others for the Avengers’ fifth annual Christmas charity benefit.
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A few days later, the Avengers respond when an intruder breaks into the lab where the vintage cryogenic vault is being stored, and they are surprised to find that he is the Whizzer, the super-fast crime-fighter of the 1940s who was a member of the Liberty Legion, the Invaders, and the post-war All-Winners Squad. The Whizzer claims that the cryogenic vault belongs to him, but the Avengers are dubious until the module opens, revealing a highly radioactive mutant inside. As the mutant smashes its way to freedom and disappears into the city, Wanda is shocked when the Whizzer reveals that the mutant is his son. However, the elderly hero then collapses, suffering a massive heart attack. Wanda orders Jarvis to help her carry the Whizzer upstairs and summon a doctor, while the other Avengers go after the radioactive mutant. Unable to reach Dr. Donald Blake, Jarvis calls another physician, who agrees to come out to the mansion. After examining the Whizzer, the doctor permits Wanda to ask the patient some questions. Though groggy, the Whizzer explains that he and his wife, the superheroine known as Miss America, took jobs as non-costumed security agents at a nuclear power plant in New York after resigning from the All-Winners Squad. Unfortunately, they were both exposed to high levels of radiation while shutting down the reactor following an accident in 1948, not realizing that Miss America was pregnant at the time. When their son was born several months later, he was dangerously radioactive. The government stepped in, he reveals, and placed the baby in an experimental cryogenic device, where he was meant to remain for the next 25 years, at which point the scientists thought his radioactivity might have dropped to acceptable levels. The vault was stored in a research facility in Manhattan, not far from where they are now. The Whizzer drifts off to sleep then, and the doctor suggests that Wanda let him rest. She hopes that her teammates will be able to capture the Whizzer’s son without harming him.
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After the doctor has left, the Whizzer regains consciousness and continues his tale, saying that after losing their son, he and his wife took a generous government pension and went on an extended European tour. Wanda’s heart begins to pound as the Whizzer describes their visit to the High Evolutionary’s Citadel of Science on Wundagore Mountain after Miss America became pregnant again. Learning that the pregnancy was producing severe complications, the High Evolutionary agreed to help. Wanda shivers when the Whizzer reports that strange lights were seen coruscating around the mountaintop the night his wife gave birth. The midwife, an artificially evolved cow-woman called Bova, then brought a set of fraternal twins into the waiting room, he says, and told the Whizzer that his wife wanted to name them—Wanda cuts him off, stunned and shaken to her core. She says she knows the names of the children: Wanda and Pietro. The Whizzer is astonished as the Scarlet Witch claims that she must be his daughter. He reveals that Miss America died in childbirth, and he was so grief-stricken he fled from Mount Wundagore, leaving the babies with the High Evolutionary. He returned some years later, he insists, but the twins were long since gone. Wanda tells him of how she and her brother, Quicksilver, lived with a gypsy tribe for many years, until they were orphaned and left to fend for themselves in the forests of the Balkans. Eventually, they were rescued from a murderous mob by Magneto and served him for a time, finally breaking away from his terrorist group to find redemption as members of the Avengers. Though his breathing has become more ragged, the Whizzer is clearly determined to get back on his feet now that he believes he has found his long-lost children. Wanda feels as though her whole world has suddenly turned topsy-turvy.
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Shortly, the mansion is shaken by a force-blast that the Whizzer realizes must have been generated by his son while fighting the Avengers. Heedless of the danger, he picks Wanda up and races to the scene of the battle, where they find his strangely glowing son is being referred to as “Nuklo” by the Avengers. Suffering another heart attack, the Whizzer collapses to the ground. Following his directions, though, Wanda forms a large hex sphere around Nuklo, trapping him. He expends all of his nuclear energies trying to break out of the sphere and finally drops to the ground unconscious. As the Vision carries the Whizzer back to Avengers Mansion, Iron Man arranges for Nuklo to be returned to suspended animation using technology from Stark Industries. Dr. Donald Blake soon arrives and performs open-heart surgery on the Whizzer in the mansion’s medical bay. While that’s taking place, Wanda relates to her teammates the incredible tale that the Whizzer told her, which suggests that her birth parents are Robert and Madeline Frank, better known as the former superheroes the Whizzer and Miss America. Nuklo’s real name, she informs them, is Robert Frank, Jr. Finally, Blake emerges from the operating room and assures Wanda that the Whizzer should make a full recovery. A few hours later, Wanda visits the patient, accompanied by the Vision, Captain America, and Iron Man. She reassures him that his prognosis is good and that she will contact Pietro to inform him that she’s found their father. In a hoarse voice, the groggy Whizzer exhorts Wanda to take good care of her brother, then lapses into unconsciousness. Saddened by the estrangement between Pietro and herself, Wanda starts to cry, prompting the Vision to offer a comforting embrace. Later, before stepping down as team chairman, Thor grants permission for the Whizzer to reside indefinitely at Avengers Mansion while he recuperates. Wanda realizes that these revelations will require her to rethink her entire life, but she immediately feels more confident in her role as an American superhero.
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<b>Notes:</b>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>January 1966 –</b> The Scarlet Witch’s adventures continue in <i>Avengers</i> #110 and following. Magneto dropped out of sight last year following his raid on the government research facility in <i>Amazing Adventures</i> #10. Following Magneto’s defeat, Wanda is behind the scenes as Iron Man and Professor X discuss the Angel’s disappearance in the flashback in <i>Captain America</i> #173. The Lion God is most likely the Nubian god Apedemak, who is related to the Egyptian pantheon.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>February 1966 –</b> The Avengers are rescued from Kang and Zarrko by Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Human Torch, and the Inhumans in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #9–11. As seen in <i>Marvels</i> #4 by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross, the controversial romance between the Scarlet Witch and the Vision was even featured on the cover of <i>Time</i> magazine. Although that series is non-canonical, I find some of its background details interesting.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>April 1966 –</b> Apparently, the Lion God never manages to return from the dimension to which Thor banishes him.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>May 1966 –</b> The Avengers and the Defenders team up to defeat Loki and Dormammu in a story that crosses over into <i>Defenders</i> #8–11. Additional information is provided in a flashback in <i>Avengers</i> #157. When the natives of Rurutu drag the unconscious Scarlet Witch into the path of the lava flow, it’s possible they are under the influence of the global wave of violence caused by the invading demons of Sominus, as seen in <i>Adventure into Fear</i> #14–15. Iron Man warns the Avengers about Thanos shortly after <i>Iron Man</i> #56.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>June 1966 –</b> The Avengers and Captain Marvel battle the Controller in <i>Captain Marvel</i> #27–30.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>July 1966 –</b> The United Nations places the Avengers on standby as the Elementals terrorize Cairo in <i>Supernatural Thrillers</i> #13. Wanda and her teammates remain behind the scenes, though.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>November 1966 –</b> Scarlet Witch and Vision are behind the scenes during Captain America’s strategy session in <i>Defenders</i> #13. The fight with Zodiac must take place atop the Empire State Building rather than the World Trade Center (as depicted in the story), since the Twin Towers haven’t been built yet.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>December 1966 –</b> The Avengers team up with Captain Marvel and his friends to battle Thanos and his space armada in <i>Captain Marvel</i> #31–33, which crosses over with <i>Avengers</i> #125. Confusingly, three different time periods are mashed together in the first three pages of <i>Avengers</i> #125—Lou-Ann Savannah’s arrival at the mansion (in June), Libra being taken away by the police (in November), and Captain America returning to the Avengers after defeating the Secret Empire (in December). This is clearly done for dramatic effect. Captain America and Iron Man bring Nuklo’s cryogenic chamber to the mansion in a flashback in <i>Giant-Size Avengers</i> #1, then Rick Jones says goodbye in <i>Captain Marvel</i> #34. The Avengers’ battle with Klaw and Solarr brings us up to <i>Avengers</i> #126. Rhodesia is fictionalized as “Rudyarda,” named after the British author Rudyard Kipling. Scarlet Witch and Vision’s argument is seen in one of the many flashbacks in <i>Avengers</i> #280. The team’s encounter with the Whizzer and Nuklo is depicted in <i>Giant-Size Avengers</i> #1. Of course, Wanda’s supposition that the Whizzer and Miss America are her parents eventually proves to be false. As revealed in <i>Avengers</i> #186, Bova offered the Whizzer the infant twins after his wife and child died, not telling him that they had been delivered days earlier by a wandering gypsy named Magda. Wanda has undoubtedly read about the High Evolutionary and his Citadel of Science in Avengers reports submitted by Thor.
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<i><b>Jump Back:</b> <a href="https://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2017/07/omu-scarlet-witch-part-four.html">Secrets of the Scarlet Witch – Part Four</a></i>
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<i><b>Next Issue:</b> <a href="https://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2020/05/omu-sun-girl.html">The Mysterious Beauty!</a></i>
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<br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-5851473980437025942019-11-15T10:13:00.005-06:002023-12-14T15:57:42.044-06:00OMU: Power Man -- Year Two<b>Luke Cage</b> starts going up against bona fide costumed super-villains during the next twelve months of his life, kicking off a new phase in his career with no less than Doctor Doom. He also begins to get to know some of New York’s other superheroes, such as the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and Iron Man. It should come as no surprise, then, that his series is soon rebranded from <i>Luke Cage, Hero for Hire</i> to <i>Power Man</i>, signaling a move toward more standard (and less lethal) superhero action. It’s striking how many of Luke’s foes wind up dead by the end of these stories, which really limits his rogues’ gallery to a series of one-and-done villains.
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<b>Note:</b> The following timeline depicts the <b>Original Marvel Universe</b> (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2004/12/the-original-marvel-universe.html">previous posts</a> for a detailed explanation of my rationale). Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
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Now continuing… <b>The True History of Luke Cage, Power Man!</b>
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<b>January 1966 –</b> Luke Cage is ringing in the New Year with David “D.W.” Griffith in his office above the Gem Theater on W. 42nd St. in Manhattan when he spots the Fantastic Four flying past his window. Luke jokes that the world-famous superheroes didn’t stop to get his autograph. In the morning, Luke learns that the Thing’s girlfriend, Alicia Masters, was kidnapped during the festivities in Times Square by a mystery woman called Thundra in order to draw the Thing into a grudge match at Shea Stadium. Like most New Yorkers, Luke eagerly awaits the “battle of the sexes” and is disappointed a few days later when the bout ends inconclusively. True to her word, Thundra releases Alicia unharmed afterwards.
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While pursuing leads on the two-month-old murder of Frank Jenks, Luke makes time to see Dr. Claire Temple, now his lover. They often hook up at the neighborhood clinic Claire runs with Dr. Noah Burstein, the man responsible for Luke’s superhuman powers. One day, a nattily attired white man offers Luke $200 a day to track down four men who have stolen company secrets from his anonymous employer. When he hears that the four men are hiding out in the predominantly black neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, Luke realizes he is being offered the job because he is black. Even so, he accepts, thinking it will be good money for easy work. However, when he tracks down the culprits several hours later, Luke discovers that they are actually robots. He manages to destroy one of the robots, but the others escape into the night. Determined to find out what’s really going on, Luke tracks the man who hired him to the Latverian embassy, where he comes face to face with the infamous super-villain Doctor Doom. The armored tyrant convinces Luke that the case he was hired for is legit: since there are no black people living in his kingdom, Doom needed to hire a black New Yorker to track down the renegade robots, preferably one with superhuman abilities—ergo, Luke Cage is the right man for the job. Despite his misgivings, Luke returns to Bedford-Stuyvesant, where he is ambushed by the three remaining robots. After smashing them all to pieces, Luke heads back to the Latverian embassy to collect his fee. He becomes enraged when the doorman insists that Doctor Doom has left the country in order to cheat him of his earnings.
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Intent on collecting his $200, Luke storms into the Baxter Building headquarters of the Fantastic Four, where he gets into a scuffle with Mister Fantastic, the Thing, the Human Torch, and Medusa. After Luke explains that he is merely seeking help getting to Latveria, though, Mister Fantastic agrees to lend him a rocket ship, having read good things about Luke in Phil Fox’s column in the <i>Daily Bugle</i>. When he arrives in Doctor Doom’s isolated kingdom in Central Europe, Luke finds himself in the middle of a full-scale robot rebellion engineered by Doom’s alien foe, the Faceless One. Luke agrees to join forces with the Faceless One and his robot army in order to breach Castle Doom’s defenses. Once that has been accomplished, Luke confronts Doctor Doom in the throne room and demands his $200. Doom is surprised, having assumed that Luke was acting on behalf of the Fantastic Four, and responds dismissively at first, but his arrogant condescension merely enrages Luke. By repeatedly striking the same spot on Doom’s chestplate, Luke is able to knock his armor’s weapons systems offline. However, when the Faceless One then tries to kill Doom, Luke intervenes, as he is unwilling to stand by as a man is murdered—especially a man who owes him money. The Faceless One beats a hasty retreat, but Luke refuses to go after the alien, since Doom still hasn’t paid him for the last job he did. Doom is amused, saying that Luke reminds him of himself in his younger days, and gives him the $200 in cash. After counting the money, Luke departs, leaving Doctor Doom to deal with the robot rebellion on his own. When Luke returns the rocket ship to the Fantastic Four, they are astonished that his mission was successful. Rather than brag, Luke tells them to look him up if they ever need a favor. He then heads down to the street and hails a taxi, ignoring the Thing’s barrage of questions about what exactly went down in Latveria.
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<b>February 1966 –</b> Luke confers with Mimi Jenks, Frank Jenks’s widow, about the murder investigation, though she is averse to paying Luke any more money. She takes Luke to the bank where Frank kept a safe deposit box, but the only clue they find is a matchbook from a Manhattan restaurant with something written in Spanish inside the cover. Since Frank apparently didn’t speak Spanish, Luke decides to check it out. Unfortunately, when he arrives at the address, Luke discovers that the restaurant has just burned down. Frustrated, he heads over to visit Claire at the neighborhood clinic and is annoyed to find <i>Daily Bugle</i> columnist Phil Fox still trying to arrange an interview with Noah Burstein. When Luke returns to his office in Times Square later, he fights a gang of hit men who were lying in wait there. Though he defeats the killers, Luke is zapped into unconsciousness by their leader, the Puerto Rican crime boss known as Señor Muerte, who is wearing an insulated costume that delivers powerful electric shocks. When he comes to, Luke finds himself chained up in a tunnel on the waterfront which is starting to fill with icy water from the harbor. Señor Muerte gloats about Luke’s impending death by drowning, then takes his leave. With great effort, Luke escapes from the death trap and goes to meet with his informant, Flea, for more information about Señor Muerte and his illegal gambling operation. Flea provides an address, but it turns out to be a trap—Señor Muerte is waiting with an outlandish array of gambling-themed murder devices. Luke smashes his way through the onslaught and causes Señor Muerte’s costume to short-circuit, electrocuting the criminal. After completing his investigation, Luke reports to Mimi Jenks that her husband’s murder has been solved: Frank had lost a lot of money in Señor Muerte’s casinos and was going to blow the whistle on them in hopes of saving himself. Learning of the plan, Señor Muerte had Frank killed in an attack staged to look like a random mugging. Mimi is disgusted that Frank would stoop to gambling with mobsters, but Luke berates her for driving Frank to it with her pretentious social climbing.
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A couple weeks later, Luke is hired by <i>Daily Bugle</i> publisher J. Jonah Jameson to capture Spider-Man, who is wanted by the police in connection with the murder of industrialist Norman Osborn. Though he doesn’t like working on Saturdays, Luke agrees to take the case. After doing some research, Luke determines which parts of the city Spider-Man is most often spotted in and then hangs out for a while on a high rooftop in Midtown Manhattan, several blocks east of Times Square. When Spider-Man eventually swings by, Luke leaps out and tackles him. However, the web-slinger proves to be a surprisingly formidable opponent, and his barrage of angry insults enrages Luke. Their brawl ends when Spider-Man knocks Luke through a skylight and swings off on his web-line. Determined to earn his pay, Luke next heads to the campus of Empire State University in Greenwich Village, where he crashes a student dance party. Sure enough, Spider-Man appears a moment later and attacks Luke. They trade punches for a few minutes until Spider-Man gets fed up and webs Luke down to some cement steps. Unable to break free, Luke agrees to listen to what the wall-crawler has to say. Spider-Man apologizes for insulting Luke about using his super-powers for money, admitting that he also initially tried to cash in on his abilities. As they talk, Luke realizes that Spider-Man is just an over-emotional teenager and not a killer. Thus, after they’ve gone their separate ways, Luke heads over to the Daily Bugle Building and returns Jameson’s money, saying he won’t be able to fulfill the assignment after all.
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On his way home, Luke stops in at the neighborhood clinic, where he finds Claire and Dr. Burstein treating a young woman who was injured when a super-villain calling himself “Chemistro” attacked her place of employment, the New York offices of General Motors. The president of the company is on hand, and he hires Luke to track down Chemistro and bring him to justice. Thus, Luke heads immediately to the General Motors building, where he learns that Chemistro used some kind of ray gun to transmute the floor of the executive suite to glass, which then shattered under the weight of all the furniture. Luke sends some of the glass for analysis at a private chemistry lab he has worked with previously, and they soon report that the glass had a highly unstable molecular structure and quickly crumbled to dust. The next day, Luke eavesdrops on an emergency board meeting at GM, where he is surprised to learn that the executives all know Chemistro’s real identity, for he is a disgruntled former chemist for the company. Before Luke can react, Chemistro crashes the meeting and threatens the board members. Luke immediately leaps into action and attacks the villain, giving the executives time to flee. Despite his foe’s all-concealing costume, Luke realizes that Chemistro is African American. Unfortunately, Chemistro uses his “alchemy gun” to turn the floor beneath Luke’s feet to paper, sending him crashing down into the lobby below. After Chemistro makes good his escape, Luke confronts the GM board members and demands a full explanation. They reveal that Chemistro’s real name is Curtis Carr, and he was fired when he refused to surrender the alchemy gun despite having developed it on company time. Now, it seems, Carr is out for revenge. Though he suspects Carr has gotten a raw deal, Luke promises to capture him.
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Unable to pick up Chemistro’s trail, Luke returns to his Times Square office, where he finds Phil Fox waiting for him. Luke’s annoyance turns to cold rage when Fox calls him by his real name and mentions Seagate Prison. Luke’s attempt to play dumb fails; Fox is too sure of his facts. The reporter proves unsympathetic to Luke’s side of the story and makes clear that he’s intent on blackmail, even suggesting that Luke’s superpowers would make him a formidable bank robber. Luke loses his temper and smacks Fox around, threatening to beat him to a bloody pulp if he makes trouble. Fearing for his life, Fox stumbles down the stairs and flees. Moments later, Claire enters, saying she ran into Fox outside and was disturbed by his bizarre behavior. Worried how Claire would react if she learned the truth about his criminal past, Luke refuses to discuss the matter. He knows his only option is to wait and see what Fox decides to do next.
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<b>March 1966 –</b> Three days later, Luke disguises himself as a race car driver at an exhibition of prototype sports cars sponsored by General Motors at a test track in New Jersey. As expected, Chemistro appears and uses his alchemy gun to change Luke’s car into a soft, flammable substance. Though the car explodes into a huge fireball as it spins out of control, Luke emerges from the conflagration unharmed. He chases Chemistro into the stands and apprehends him, pulling off his mask and demanding that he surrender. Instead, the unhinged Chemistro transmutes his own foot into solid steel and kicks Luke in the face. However, his foot immediately crumbles to dust, sending Chemistro into a state of shock. Luke tries to calm his hapless foe down and grows angry when Phil Fox heckles him from the crowd, suggesting they still have unfinished business. An ambulance arrives then to take Chemistro to the hospital, and Fox slips away before Luke can confront him. The president of General Motors personally thanks Luke for ending the threat to his company and pays him handsomely for his efforts.
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<b>April 1966 –</b> Luke’s high-profile victory for General Motors pays off again when he is personally hired by New York mayor John V. Lindsay to investigate the death of a city accountant who was apparently killed by an intelligent tiger. Suspecting the involvement of a super-villain, Mayor Lindsay has come to Luke, thinking he’ll be easier to work with than the Avengers. Luke agrees to take the case, provided he has a free hand to conduct the investigation in his own manner. With the terms agreed upon, Luke visits the city accounting office, where he merely learns the dead man audited the education and sanitation accounts. Further inquires at various government offices prove equally unrevealing, leaving Luke frustrated. On the way over to Claire’s clinic, Luke is ambushed in the street by a tiger, a lion, and a panther, and he is startled when they seem to be growling out words in English and Spanish. Though he manages to drive the cats off, Luke realizes their claws must have been coated with poison that has seeped into his skin. He staggers into the clinic, where Claire and Burstein treat him. Phil Fox drops in, having witnessed Luke’s battle with the big cats, and taunts him, dropping numerous veiled references to his blackmail scheme. Luke tells Fox to get lost but again declines to tell Claire what’s going on between them. He suspects Burstein of having betrayed him to Fox but knows he can’t confront him when Claire is around. He also realizes Fox must be hoping for a bigger payoff if he lets Luke sweat for a while, expecting to wear down his resolve. His head swimming, Luke goes home to recover from the poison.
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Over the next two days, Luke’s investigation leads him to the Bronx apartment of schoolteacher Alejandro Cortez, who had a major grant proposal denied due to budget cuts that the murdered accountant had recommended. Cortez’s wife confirms that he was bitter about losing his funding, swore to get revenge, and promptly disappeared. Noting that the living room walls are covered with circus posters, Luke decides to check out the circus currently occupying Madison Square Garden. There, he finds Cortez, who has adopted the super-villain identity of Lionfang. Trapping Luke in the lion-tamer’s cage with the tiger, the lion, and the panther, Lionfang reveals that he has developed a means to transfer his mental patterns into the brains of the big cats, granting them near-human levels of intelligence. Since the villain hasn’t had the opportunity to coat the cats’ claws with poison, though, Luke easily defeats the animals. Lionfang tries to escape by swinging across the arena on the trapeze bars, but Luke knocks down the pole on the far end, planning to catch Lionfang when he falls. Unfortunately, Luke misjudges his foe’s momentum, and Lionfang plummets to his doom. Filled with self-recrimination, Luke reports his findings to the mayor’s office. Over the following week, Claire helps Luke come to terms with his role in Lionfang’s death.
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<b>May 1966 –</b> Intending to take a day off, Luke goes for a stroll down Broadway, only to have people all around him inexplicably start changing into hideous, demonic monsters. As the city itself transforms into a weird, alien landscape, Luke tries to contain the rioting creatures. Finally, less than an hour after it began, the phenomenon ends and everything reverts to normal. Luke is shocked as he surveys the tremendous damage the city has suffered from the monsters’ rampage, while the people who had been transformed wander around in a daze. A few minutes later, though, all the damage is suddenly undone, as if by magic. Later, the Avengers report that the entire event was a mass hallucination created by a super-villain whom they have defeated, though the government insists it was the work of a mutant terrorist. Luke isn’t sure what to believe.
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Sometime later, Luke receives a frantic phone call from a nearby demolition site; three workers are hopelessly trapped under tons of rubble and they will run out of air before conventional rescue efforts can reach them. Luke races to the scene, smashes his way into the collapsed building, and carries the three men to safety. The construction company agrees to pay Luke the top rate for his heroic efforts, and Luke’s reputation continues to grow.
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<b>June 1966 –</b> A few weeks later, Luke is brooding in his office late one night when Mimi Jenks unexpectedly turns up, seeking sanctuary after a man she was out on the town with became too sexually aggressive. Unfortunately, the man in question, local attorney “Big Ben” Donovan, bursts in a moment later and attacks Luke, thinking him a romantic rival. Though the drunken Donovan proves to be a tough customer, Luke soon knocks him unconscious. He then puts Mimi in a taxi, promising to call her later after Donovan has sobered up. When Luke returns to his office, though, Donovan attacks him again. Their fight smashes up the place until Luke finally beats Donovan into submission. The two men then talk for a couple of hours, getting to know each other, and Luke realizes Donovan isn’t such a bad guy. At dawn, they go out for breakfast and end up parting as friends. However, when he gets home afterwards, Luke receives a call from the public defender’s office informing him that Claire Temple has been arrested for the murder of Phil Fox. Shocked, Luke heads to the jail and speaks to Claire through the window of her cell after being turned away by the police. He is horrified to discover that Claire has learned that he is an escaped convict and that the man who actually killed Fox has apparently kidnapped Mimi and escaped. Claire never saw the man but heard his thick southern drawl through the door of Mimi’s apartment just before Fox was shot. She was arrested while examining Fox’s body, because she had unthinkingly picked up the murder weapon from the floor and was holding it when the police arrived. Promising to get legal help from his new friend “Big Ben” Donovan, Luke sets off to track down Fox’s killer.
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After phoning Donovan and checking out the crime scene in Mimi’s apartment, Luke breaks into Noah Burstein’s home and rousts him out of bed, accusing Burstein of betraying him to Phil Fox. Burstein insists that he never did but reveals that he had a journal about his experiments at Seagate Prison, which Fox must have stolen. Realizing the killer must now have the journal, Luke heads up to Harlem with a growing sense of desperation. He finds his informant, Flea, who taunts him about Seagate. Enraged, Luke demands that Flea come clean, so the stoolpidgeon leads him to a closed-down liquor store for a meeting with his former fellow inmates Shades and Comanche. Not in the mood for the pair’s posturing, Luke forces Flea to reveal that he encountered a drunken Phil Fox a week or so ago, when the reporter bragged about having dirt on Luke. Flea helped Fox get home, where he read the stolen journal after Fox passed out on the couch. However, feeling bad for having betrayed Luke to Señor Muerte a few months ago, Flea decided to keep his discovery to himself. Several days later, though, Flea recognized Shades and Comanche from Burstein’s account, and they were receptive to doing some business with him on account of his close relationship with Luke. Shades and Comanche then explain that they intend to seize the Harlem rackets from the crime boss known as Morgan and want Luke to join them, in exchange for their help capturing Phil Fox’s killer. Luke rejects their proposal until Shades reveals that they know the killer’s identity—Albert “Billy Bob” Rackham, the racist guard who abused them all at Seagate. Feeling the weight of his past crashing down on him, Luke agrees to the scheme. He then goes out to phone Donovan, and they hatch a plan to free Mimi, capture all the criminals, and exonerate Claire.
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Flea leads Luke, Shades, and Comanche to a modest house in suburban New Jersey, where they confront Rackham, who has Mimi tied to a chair and is threatening her with a gun. Having heard on the radio that Claire has been arrested for Fox’s murder, Rackham gloats that only he or Mimi could clear her name. Unfortunately, Luke’s plan suddenly goes awry when the ceiling caves in on them. Pinned beneath the wreckage, Rackham panics and shoots Mimi three times in the chest. As the house continues to collapse, Luke pulls Shades and Comanche to safety while Flea carries the dying Mimi outside. Luke is about to drag Rackham from the rubble when the cause of the destruction reveals himself—a heavily armed white man with a crewcut and a southern accent calling himself Stiletto. Obviously privy to all Luke’s secrets, Stiletto is intent on sending him back to prison, but Luke overcomes his arsenal of exotic weapons and gives him a beating. As the police arrive on the scene, Stiletto shocks Luke with a cryogenic device and runs off, vowing to return to capture him another day. “Big Ben” Donovan turns up and informs Luke that Rackham has been killed—run over by an ambulance while attempting to flee—but Mimi confessed to Phil Fox’s murder before she died. Luke is shocked by Mimi’s last selfless act and grateful that she has saved Claire from prison. The police congratulate Luke as Shades and Comanche are taken into custody. The two crooks decide not to expose Luke’s true identity, apparently grateful that he saved their lives. Later that afternoon, Luke is on hand when Claire is released from jail, and they share a tender kiss.
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<b>July–October 1966 –</b> After the initial euphoria of her exoneration wears off, Claire has a hard time dealing with the fact that Luke never confided in her about his criminal past. From her own experience of being wrongfully accused, she has nothing but sympathy for Luke’s situation but is hurt that he didn’t trust her enough to be honest. As a result, Luke feels awkward around Claire, causing their relationship to falter. He buries himself in his work, as his growing reputation ensures a steady stream of routine, though not particularly lucrative, assignments for the “Hero for Hire.”
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<b>November 1966 –</b> Luke receives a telegram from Ugandan economics minister Dr. Kinji Obatu, who is seeking to hire super-powered protection during his visit to the United States. However, as Obatu is staying at a hotel in Detroit, Michigan, and hasn’t provided any travel funds, Luke tosses the telegram in the trash. Having seen in the newspaper that Iron Man is currently in Detroit, Luke figures Obatu can retain the service of the Golden Avenger instead. Even so, Luke thinks that potential clients might take him more seriously if he had a typical superhero code name, and he starts to consider his options.
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Soon after, Luke is hired by a man claiming to represent Iron Man’s employer, Stark Industries, to test their factory’s security measures by attempting to steal a new spacesuit designed as part of their space-exploration program. The man, who calls himself Orville Smythe, warns Luke that not even Iron Man has been informed of the test, so he’ll have to be on his guard. Excited by the prospect and happy with the generous check Smythe has presented, Luke accepts the assignment. As he is leaving the building at dusk, Luke encounters Noah Burstein, whom he has been avoiding for months. Burstein wants to apologize for all the trouble his journal caused, but Luke blows him off and heads out to Stark’s facility on Long Island. After successfully breaching the vault containing the prototype spacesuit, Luke gets into a brutal battle with Iron Man. When Luke finally calls it quits, insisting that he’s fulfilled the assignment Smythe gave him, the confused Iron Man realizes that Smythe was an impostor. Sure enough, Smythe, now wearing the spacesuit, tries to escape in an experimental aircraft. Seeing that Iron Man’s flight capability was knocked offline during their fight, Luke races after the plane and grabs on just as it takes off into the sky. Luke smashes his way into the cockpit, but after a brief struggle, Smythe stumbles out of the damaged aircraft and plummets to his death. Unsure of how to land the plane, Luke radios for help, and Iron Man instructs him on how to activate the remote-control systems. Iron Man then meets him when the aircraft returns to Stark Industries, whereupon Luke rips up the phony check he’d been given. Iron Man assures Luke that Tony Stark will reimburse him for his trouble—minus the cost to repair all the damage he caused. Annoyed, Luke heads for home. The evening proves not to be a total loss, though, for Luke has decided on a new code name: <b>Power Man</b>.
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<b>December 1966 –</b> Luke is frustrated when his efforts to rebrand himself as Power Man have no discernible effect on his business, though D.W. assures him that it’s a cool name. Luke is also concerned that so many people—Noah Burstein, Shades, Comanche, Stiletto, Flea, and now Claire Temple—know of his true identity as escaped convict Carl Lucas. It’s only a matter of time, he realizes, before he’ll have to confront the shadows of his past or be overwhelmed by them.
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<b>Notes:</b>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>January 1966 –</b> After starting off the year with a cameo appearance in <i>Fantastic Four</i> #133, Luke Cage’s adventures resume in <i>Luke Cage, Hero for Hire</i> #8. For Doctor Doom’s perspective on these events, see my <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2013/03/omu-doctor-doom-part-one.html">Doctor Doom Chronology</a>. Luke is out working a case when the Avengers try to phone him in <i>Daredevil</i> #99.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>February 1966 –</b> Luke battles Spider-Man in <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i> #123, which sort of crosses over with <i>Luke Cage, Hero for Hire</i> #12. In that issue, General Motors is fictionalized as “Mainstream Motors.”
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>May 1966 –</b> Luke makes a cameo appearance in <i>Avengers</i> #118 as Dormammu tries to merge Earth with his own mystical realm, the Dark Dimension. The Avengers decide to conceal the truth about that event from the public to avoid mass panic, a fact that President Morris N. Richardson’s anti-mutant administration would surely take advantage of.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>November 1966 –</b> Luke receives Kinji Obatu’s telegram in <i>Iron Man</i> #65. He is unaware that Obatu is the super-villain known as Doctor Spectrum, though he may learn this fact from news reports shortly afterward. Luke’s subsequent misunderstanding fight with Iron Man brings us up to <i>Power Man</i> #17, the first issue with the new title.</span>
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<i><b>Jump Back:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2017/06/omu-power-man-year-one.html">Power Man – Year One</a></i>
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<i><b>Next Issue:</b> <a href="https://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2020/01/omu-scarlet-witch-part-five.html">Secrets of the Scarlet Witch – Part Five</a></i>
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<br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-48327954802091569602019-09-18T10:13:00.014-05:002023-12-14T12:14:35.433-06:00OMU: Black Panther -- Year Four<b>The Black Panther</b> spends the next twelve months with the Avengers and thus returns to the spotlight, although he isn’t always given very much to do. His personal life remains as unexplored as his kingdom of Wakanda, though that will soon change. His association with the Avengers brings him into conflict with a wide variety of menaces, from street-level organized crime to super-villains such as Magneto and Kang to more cosmic-level threats like Dormammu and Thanos, as well as his seemingly annual fight with his arch-enemy, Klaw. His neglect of his royal duties, however, will soon drag T’Challa into a world of hurt.
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<b>Note:</b> The following timeline depicts the <b>Original Marvel Universe</b> (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2004/12/the-original-marvel-universe.html">previous posts</a> for a detailed explanation of my rationale). Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
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Now continuing… <b>The True History of the Black Panther!</b>
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<b>January 1966 –</b> The Black Panther is sparring with Iron Man in the Avengers’ combat-simulation room as Captain America, the Vision, and the Scarlet Witch look on. Suddenly, Thor enters and summons the Scarlet Witch to the communications room, promising her tidings of great joy. The Avengers are pleased to find Quicksilver calling from the Great Refuge of the Inhumans. Standing next to him on the large viewscreen is Crystal, the Human Torch’s ex-girlfriend and a member of the Inhumans’ royal family. Scarlet Witch is visibly relieved to learn that her twin brother is alive and well, and she’s thrilled to hear that Quicksilver and Crystal have fallen in love after she saved him from the Sentinels’ Australian base last October. However, when the Scarlet Witch declares that she, too, has fallen in love—with the Vision—Quicksilver objects angrily, leading to an argument that makes the rest of the Avengers rather uncomfortable. After Quicksilver hangs up on her, Scarlet Witch starts to cry and the Vision moves in to comfort her. Black Panther, Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man move to the other end of the room to give the couple some space. Iron Man feels the team may be a bit shorthanded now that they’ve lost both Quicksilver and Hawkeye, but Thor dismisses his concerns. The discussion is cut short when the team receives a transmission from the X-Men’s secret headquarters, which has been trashed in a battle. The mutants’ leader, Professor X, speaks defiantly to the villain who is filming him, but then the screen goes dark. The Avengers agree to seek out the X-Men’s mansion and do what they can to help their fellow superheroes.
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When they arrive at the secluded estate in Westchester County, the Avengers quickly discover Professor X, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, and Iceman in the wreckage, all of whom appear to be comatose. Iron Man carries out a winged man they assume to be the Angel, only to face four rampaging dinosaurs that are under the control of a sort of Pied Piper figure who emerges from the woods. After defeating the dinosaurs, the Avengers try to capture the Piper but are stopped by Magneto, who is wearing the Angel’s black-and-white costume and laughing about how he fooled Iron Man with a pair of false wings. Announcing that he is abducting the X-Men, Magneto grabs the Scarlet Witch and uses his powers to send Iron Man crashing into Captain America, knocking them both out. The villains then escape with their prisoners in the Quinjet while the Vision and Thor are busy keeping the Black Panther from being crushed by boulders. The three remaining Avengers return to the mansion and try to recruit some back-up for a rescue operation. When the Black Knight can’t be reached, they turn next to the Falcon, Spider-Man, and Luke Cage, but none of them can be located. At the Black Panther’s suggestion, they fly out to San Francisco to seek help from Daredevil and the Black Widow. Hawkeye is there as well, but he angrily refuses their request and storms out. Black Widow vents her frustration on the Avengers, and T’Challa is annoyed by all the unprovoked hostility. Nevertheless, Daredevil and the Black Widow reluctantly agree to lend a hand, and so the five heroes board the Quinjet and head back to New York.
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At Avengers Mansion, Black Panther, Vision, and Thor discuss the situation with Daredevil, though the Black Widow seems to have other things on her mind. As the team’s butler, Edwin Jarvis, serves coffee, Black Panther explains to Daredevil how Magneto kidnapped the X-Men as well as Captain America, Iron Man, and the Scarlet Witch. Scanning a newspaper on the table with his fingers, Daredevil announces that a special conference of the Atomic Energy Commission is being held that very day in a house not 50 miles from New York City. Thor realizes it’s a likely target for Magneto, given his interest in atomic energy and its resulting mutations, so they decide to check it out. When they arrive, though, they are unable to stop Magneto from kidnapping the commissioners, as he has Captain America, Iron Man, the Scarlet Witch, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, and Iceman under some form of mind control. Black Panther suggests that Magneto must have a lair near the X-Men’s headquarters where he kept the dinosaurs, so they head back to Westchester County to search the area. However, they are concerned by the Vision’s disappearance during the fight and fear he was captured. In the woods behind the X-Men’s mansion, Daredevil’s radar sense detects a large cavern beneath the surface. Thor uses his enchanted hammer to smash a tunnel down to the cavern, where they discover Magneto and his hypnotized prisoners. During the ensuing fight, Black Panther tries to subdue Cyclops, only to be battered into unconsciousness by Iceman. When he comes to, T’Challa finds that Magneto has been defeated and his prisoners released. The others explain that the Vision phased inside the Piper and was able to sneak up behind Magneto and take him out with a karate chop to the back of the neck. Professor X then appears, having also been held prisoner, and puts Magneto into a telepathically induced coma. Taking charge of the defeated villains, the X-Men return to their nearby headquarters, intent on searching for the Angel, whose disappearance remains unexplained. Captain America conveys the Avengers’ thanks to Daredevil and the Black Widow and offers them full membership on the team. Daredevil declines but the Black Widow accepts, causing a rift between them. Daredevil leaves in a huff, and later the Black Panther arranges for a Quinjet to take him back to San Francisco.
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Soon after, a mob of African-American militants pounds on the front door of Avengers Mansion, demanding that the Black Panther come outside. Before the Avengers can react, the mob breaks down the door and opens fire with rifles. Iron Man and the Scarlet Witch drive them back, but they continue to chant that the Black Panther must return to Africa, where his people need him. As the situation escalates, a man in a trenchcoat emerges from the crowd and demands that the Black Panther bow down to him. The next thing T’Challa knows, he is chained up in a cave, facing the armored form of the Lion God, whom he recognizes from Wakandan mythology. The Lion God is intent on replacing the Panther God as the chief deity of Wakanda and so, in order to demoralize T’Challa, sets out to destroy the Avengers. The Lion God teleports T’Challa and himself back to Avengers Mansion, where he attacks Thor, Iron Man, the Vision, the Scarlet Witch, and the Black Widow in the team’s underground conference room. After quickly taking out Thor and the Vision, the Lion God causes two lions to materialize and sets them on the rest of the team. Iron Man leaps to the Black Widow’s defense, knocking out one of the lions with a repulsor beam. However, the Lion God shoots him in the back with a blast of energy from his totem-stick, taking the Golden Avenger out of the fight. Fearing that his friends have been killed, Black Panther breaks out of his chains and saves the Scarlet Witch from being mauled by the second lion. Luckily, Thor revives and calls down a lightning strike that hits the totem-stick, apparently overloading it and causing a tremendous explosion. T’Challa assumes that the Lion God has been destroyed. Black Widow then announces that she has decided to return to San Francisco to work with Daredevil, preferring their partnership to being a member of a large group. Black Panther, however, affirms his commitment to the team and says he plans to remain in New York for a while.
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T’Challa continues to date Monica Lynne, and their relationship gradually becomes more serious. Though he often assists Monica with her work in the civil rights movement, he decides not to revive his “Luke Charles” identity or try to return to his old teaching job in Harlem. When not engaged in Avengers business, Black Panther battles street crime while patrolling New York’s African-American neighborhoods.
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<b>February 1966 –</b> In the middle of the month, Quicksilver comes to Avengers Mansion to try to talk his sister out of her love affair with the Vision, which proves to be very contentious. Jarvis is serving Sunday brunch to the Black Panther, Captain America, Thor, the Vision, the Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver when the entire building is suddenly transported to the 23rd century by Kang the Conqueror. With the element of surprise, Kang is able to knock out everyone in the mansion. T’Challa awakens sometime later to find himself and his teammates in the shattered remains of a bank of stasis tubes in Kang’s fortress. Iron Man is now among them, obviously having been captured as well. They have been freed by Black Bolt, Gorgon, Karnak, and Triton of the Inhumans, while Kang lies defeated under some rubble nearby. Spider-Man then enters, having captured Thor’s old foe Zarrko the Tomorrow Man. However, as Spider-Man hustles everyone out of the citadel for transport back to the 20th century, they discover that Kang tricked them with a robot double and made good his escape. The voice of the real Kang then mocks them over the loudspeaker. As Zarrko is turned over to the local authorities, Spider-Man explains how he and the Human Torch tracked down and destroyed three chronal-displacement bombs that Zarrko sent back to the 20th century to destroy civilization, after which Black Bolt’s brother, Maximus the Mad, was able to convert one of the bombs into a crude but effective time machine. Suddenly, with a blinding flash of light, Black Panther, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Spider-Man, and Jarvis find themselves back on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, standing outside Avengers Mansion. Assuming the Inhumans returned directly to their Great Refuge in the Himalayas, Thor notes that the team owes them a profound debt of gratitude. Feeling slighted, Spider-Man makes a wise-ass remark and swings away. Entering their headquarters, the Avengers find they’ve been gone for two days. Realizing that his arguments are falling on deaf ears, Quicksilver returns to the Inhumans’ hidden city.
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<br />Black Panther joins Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, the Vision, and the Scarlet Witch when the Avengers are called in by the city to make repairs to the Statue of Liberty, which was heavily damaged by a giant monster a few months ago. A mishap causes the statue’s right hand to break off and plummet toward the Scarlet Witch. Vision swoops in to rescue her as their teammates deal with the falling debris. To the shock of the crowds watching from below, Vision and Scarlet Witch embrace and kiss. By the time the heroes return to Avengers Mansion, news of the romance between the mutant woman and the android man has spread like wildfire. The next day, they receive mountains of mail expressing all manner of views on the relationship, much of it negative. Some of New York’s more obnoxious residents appear at the mansion’s front door, but the Black Panther and Iron Man send them away. After a few days, the hubbub dies down.
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<b>March 1966 –</b> When a gang of neo-Nazis goes around beating up Jews on the street, Black Panther, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Vision, and Scarlet Witch go out to put a stop to it. The Avengers make short work of the neo-Nazis, but suddenly they are rushed by a suicide bomber who detonates the explosives strapped to her chest and seriously damages the Vision. Cradling the Vision in his arms, Iron Man flies at once to the Long Island laboratories of Stark Industries. Thor announces that he will fetch the surgeon Donald Blake and departs. Black Panther and Captain America escort the distraught Scarlet Witch to the factory complex, where T’Challa joins Tony Stark and Don Blake in a sophisticated laboratory. The three men set to work making repairs to the Vision, guided by the schematics Ant-Man drew up after his explorations of the synthezoid’s interior last year. However, more suicide bombers storm the building, intent on finishing the Vision off. Captain America and Scarlet Witch are quickly outnumbered, forcing Stark to step out to summon Iron Man to help. When Stark returns several minutes later, he suggests that Blake see if he can find Thor. After Blake has left, Stark encourages T’Challa to join the fray as well, insisting that he can finish the repairs on his own. Thus, Black Panther lends his teammates a hand until the last of the bombers detonate their explosives and kill themselves. The Avengers are shocked by such reckless fanaticism. A few minutes later, Stark emerges from the laboratory to announce that the Vision should make a full recovery. T’Challa is startled when the Scarlet Witch reacts with indignant rage, ranting about the way the Vision has been treated—even by her own brother—despite his many heroic acts. The way she complains about “humans,” apparently oblivious to her own bigotry, is also disturbing. With all the suicide bombers dead, the Avengers are unable to learn anything more about their motives.
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<b>April 1966 –</b> Black Panther, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and Vision are about to start a search for the missing Scarlet Witch when she suddenly comes striding through the front gate with an Asian woman called Mantis and their old enemy the Swordsman. T’Challa is intrigued when the Swordsman insists that he’s reformed and petitions to join the team (legitimately this time) as Hawkeye’s replacement. Cap tells the former super-villain to keep dreaming, but the Scarlet Witch objects, accusing Cap of being ruled by his prejudices. Iron Man is forced to concur, pointing out that the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Hawkeye, and the Black Widow were all considered “villains” before getting a shot at redemption. When Thor volunteers to take full responsibility for the Swordsman’s behavior during a probationary period, Cap grudgingly bows to the will of the majority. Iron Man asks Mantis if she wants to join the team too, but she insists she is merely the Swordsman’s companion. Glad to have another woman to talk to, Scarlet Witch assures Mantis that she’s welcome there. After a week of working closely together, Thor recommends that the Swordsman be granted all the privileges of Avengers membership. Despite Cap’s reservations, the team votes to induct him into their ranks and all agree to trust that the Swordsman really has reformed.
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A week or so later, the Avengers see a news report of Hawkeye and the Hulk on the waterfront battling a giant creature made of electricity. They discuss the fact that the archer has returned to New York without contacting them, indicating that he really does intend to go his own way from now on. Suddenly, the Lion God smashes into the chamber, apparently abetted by the Swordsman and Mantis. T’Challa is disturbed that the team was completely taken in by two traitors and is astonished when Mantis takes out Thor with her martial arts skills. The Lion God then blasts Iron Man into unconsciousness with searing energy rays from his hunting spear. As the Vision falls to the Swordsman, Mantis knocks Captain America out with a nerve-pinch. Triumphant, the Lion God is about to burn the Black Panther at the stake when he is mesmerized by the Swordsman and Mantis. This gives Iron Man a chance to revive, whereupon he triggers an adamantium containment cylinder installed in the ceiling after the last time the mansion’s security was breached. Iron Man then suggests to the groggy Thor that he send the Lion God into another dimension before he breaks free, and the thunder god uses his enchanted hammer to do so at once. In the aftermath of the battle, Mantis explains that she had sensed a malignant force lurking around the mansion and worked with the Swordsman to lure it out into the open. They then pretended to cooperate with the Lion God, planning all the while to turn the tables on him at the crucial moment. Impressed by the couple’s daring, Thor expresses the team’s profound gratitude. Captain America is clearly still suspicious, but the others agree that, if nothing else, the Swordsman and Mantis have earned the benefit of the doubt.
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<b>May 1966 –</b> Realizing that no one’s heard from the Black Knight in several months, the Avengers decide to return to Garrett Castle in England to check up on him. As soon as their Quinjet enters British airspace, though, they are harassed by S.H.I.E.L.D., which objects to the Swordsman and Mantis, both of whom have criminal records, entering the United Kingdom. Fortunately, the Avengers are able to clear the matter up and soon touch down in a meadow outside the castle. However, they are surprised to discover the entire structure is surrounded by an invisible force field which they are unable to penetrate. Mantis performs some kind of mystic probe and determines that the barrier was erected by Doctor Strange. Suddenly, a large group of ragged, primitive-looking men with medieval weapons streams out of camouflaged holes in the ground and attacks the heroes, knocking them out with crude bombs that release a potent toxic gas. When he comes to, Black Panther finds himself and his teammates being held prisoner in a network of caverns, presumably beneath the Black Knight’s estate. The primitives are upset because the force field is preventing them from looting the castle’s storehouses, which is how they’ve sustained themselves since retreating underground to escape persecution hundreds of years ago. T’Challa realizes that generations of inbreeding has caused the cave-dwellers to become savage barbarians, but their toxic gas prevents most of his teammates from fighting back. Luckily, Thor, Vision, and Mantis seem immune to its effects, and they hold off a giant insectoid monster long enough for the Black Panther to force their captors to surrender. The Avengers march the defeated barbarians back to the surface, where they call in medical and government aid for the lost tribe. The barbarian king informs the Avengers that the Black Knight was taken away by people in weird costumes before the castle was sealed off by the invisible wall. The heroes decide to head at once to Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum back in New York to ask him about it.
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However, when the Avengers reach the sorcerer’s home in Greenwich Village, they are repelled by a mysterious force. Thor smashes down the front door with his hammer and forces his way inside, where Mantis roughs up Doctor Strange’s Chinese butler. They catch of glimpse of the Black Knight in an interior room, having apparently been turned to stone, and assume that Doctor Strange is responsible. Before they can react, though, the Avengers are ejected from the building by hurricane-force winds. Thor rages at the unseen sorcerer, saying they will return when they’ve figured out how to overcome his magic, and then the Avengers go back to their headquarters, seething with indignation. Shortly afterwards, a psychic projection of Loki materializes in the mansion to warn the Avengers that Doctor Strange is leading a cabal of super-powered misfits on a quest to obtain the six segments of the legendary weapon known as the Evil Eye of Avalon, which has the power to destroy the world. Joining the mysterious master of black magic is the bestial Hulk, whose hatred for humanity is well known; the savage Sub-Mariner, who has long warred against the human race; the Silver Surfer, the bitter alien imprisoned on Earth; the Valkyrie, who desires revenge for her defeat at the hands of the Avengers a couple years ago; and even their former teammate Hawkeye, who wants to strike back at those he believes betrayed him. Though Thor is not inclined to believe anything his adopted brother says, the other Avengers convince him that they should check it out.
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Thus, Black Panther and Mantis fly to Fort Wayne, Indiana, while their teammates cover the other five locations provided by Loki. After arriving, they receive a transmission from the Vision and the Scarlet Witch, reporting that they were attacked in Polynesia by the Silver Surfer, who made off with a segment of the Evil Eye. With Loki’s tale apparently confirmed, Black Panther and Mantis commence their search in a large cornfield outside the city, where Mantis’s mystic senses have led them. They soon confront Doctor Strange, despite his attempts to evade them. Black Panther manages to wrest the Evil Eye segment from the sorcerer’s grasp while Mantis deals with a shotgun-wielding farmer. Unfortunately, Doctor Strange casts a spell that incapacitates his opponents long enough for him to escape with the segment. T’Challa is frustrated and hopes the rest of the Avengers fared better.
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<br />Black Panther and Mantis then rendezvous with Captain America, Iron Man, the Vision, the Scarlet Witch, and a wounded Swordsman. They have been joined by the Sub-Mariner, who has convinced Cap that both teams have been played for fools by Loki. Returning to New York, Sub-Mariner leads the Avengers into Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum without incident, where they find the sorcerer, Hawkeye, the Silver Surfer, and the Valkyrie in a well-appointed sitting room. T’Challa notices the Black Knight, turned to stone, standing in a corner of the room. Sub-Mariner informs his shocked teammates that Loki told the Avengers that their team, which they call the Defenders, was out to conquer the world. Valkyrie assures the Avengers that they sought out the Evil Eye so they could use its mystical power to release the Black Knight from the petrification spell placed on him by the Enchantress. T’Challa is confused, since he remembers the Valkyrie being merely an illusion the Enchantress used to disguise herself, but such matters are explained as the two teams get to know each other better over the next half hour. Finally, Iron Man realizes that Thor and the Hulk are still out on the battlefield and could be laying waste to Los Angeles at that very moment. Thus, Doctor Strange weaves a spell that teleports everyone out to California.
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There, they find Thor and the Hulk locked in a stalemate, each one’s super-strong muscles straining against the other’s as they grapple, but Doctor Strange convinces them to stand down. The Avengers and the Defenders then compare notes and realize that Thor was fighting Loki in Rutland, Vermont, last Halloween at the same time that the Defenders were battling Dormammu there. They speculate that the two arch-villains must have teamed up. Their suspicions are confirmed when the six segments of the Evil Eye are suddenly stolen by Dormammu’s servant Asti the All-Seeing. Despite the best efforts of the assembled heroes, Asti escapes with the segments into another dimension. Almost immediately, the city around them begins to transform into a nightmarish world of horror, the people metamorphosing into monstrous demons. An image of Dormammu’s flaming head appears in the sky, announcing that he is using the Evil Eye to bring Earth into his Dark Dimension, thereby enabling him to conquer the planet without violating his oath to never invade our universe. The Avengers and the Defenders vow to prevent this at any cost. However, the transformed bystanders begin to attack the heroes, forcing them to fight back. Black Panther helps keep the monsters at bay while Doctor Strange casts a spell to prevent any of the 14 superheroes present from changing into monsters themselves. The sorcerer then tries to convince Captain America that both teams need to take the fight directly to Dormammu in the Dark Dimension. Cap is reluctant to abandon the earth in such a time of crisis but relents when Nick Fury and the forces of S.H.I.E.L.D. arrive on the scene. Leaving Fury and his agents to deal with the monsters, Doctor Strange casts a spell to transport the Avengers and the Defenders into Dormammu’s realm.
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In the weird landscape of the Dark Dimension, Doctor Strange yells at the headstrong Avengers to keep them from blundering to their doom, prompting Thor to order his teammates to defer to the sorcerer’s expertise. Then, after beating off the numberless hordes of the Mindless Ones, the heroes find Dormammu, brandishing the Evil Eye, with Loki imprisoned in a cage of flames. To everyone’s surprise, the Watcher is also present, looking on enigmatically. Doctor Strange manages to breach the mystic barrier separating them, but with one wave of his hand, Dormammu’s augmented magic instantly renders the six Defenders unconscious. Undaunted, Thor leads the Avengers in a desperate charge, but Dormammu turns the ground under their feet into quicksand. Thor, Iron Man, and Scarlet Witch avoid the trap and press onward, but the two men quickly fall to Dormammu’s power. However, Loki suddenly frees himself from the flaming cage and grapples with Dormammu, enabling the Scarlet Witch to cast a hex bolt at them. There is a flash of light and then Dormammu is gone, leaving Loki gibbering like a madman. The Avengers and the Defenders regroup, and the Watcher congratulates the 14 heroes on their great victory. He explains that the hex caused the Evil Eye to malfunction, whereupon it disintegrated Dormammu, absorbed his mystical energies, and blasted them out again straight through Loki’s brain. The Asgardian god’s mind has been shattered, leaving him with the intellect of an infant. And though Dormammu’s corporeal form has been destroyed, the Watcher warns, he will eventually reintegrate himself with the aid of his many black-hearted worshipers. Doctor Strange then retrieves the Evil Eye and casts a spell that returns the two teams to Los Angeles.
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The Avengers and the Defenders materialize on the same street in L.A. to find the crisis is over. The people who had been transformed into monsters have reverted to normal and are wandering around the rubble-strewn streets in a daze. Nick Fury offers the two teams his congratulations on their victory. However, wishing to keep the existence of the Defenders a secret, Doctor Strange removes all memory of their involvement from Fury and his agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as well as any bystanders who witnessed their presence earlier in the day. Furthermore, he combines the power of the Evil Eye with his own sorcerous might to undo all damage and destruction the world over caused by Dormammu’s scheme, leaving everyone believing they had just suffered a mass hallucination. Finally, after bidding farewell to the Avengers, Strange teleports his team back to his Sanctum Sanctorum to attend to the Black Knight. The Avengers borrow a jet from S.H.I.E.L.D. and return to New York as well. Unfortunately, since they do not arrive in a Quinjet, the Avengers are unable to deactivate their mansion’s rooftop security systems ahead of time. Luckily, Black Panther is able to do it manually. Scarlet Witch complains again about “humans,” and T’Challa is annoyed by her attitude. As they enter the mansion, Thor informs Jarvis of Loki’s condition and explains that he will need constant care. Since Loki has been banished from Asgard, Thor asks Jarvis to set him up in Hawkeye’s old bedroom. The Avengers are extremely wary at first, expecting treachery from their old foe, but as time passes, Loki gives no sign of faking his mental disability. Eventually, Thor decides to take his brother on an extended camping trip to Scandinavia.
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Near the end of the month, Iron Man informs the Avengers about the threat of Thanos, a renegade from a utopian society hidden inside Saturn’s moon Titan. Thanos is planning to conquer the solar system, he reports, and he has already battled two of Thanos’s agents, vicious aliens called the Blood Brothers. With the help of another alien called Drax the Destroyer, Iron Man drove the villains off and destroyed their New Mexico base, but Thanos is reputed to lead a mercenary army assembled from the dregs of interstellar society and thus remains a clear and present danger to Earth.
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<b>June 1966 –</b> Black Panther is with Captain America, Iron Man, the Vision, and the Scarlet Witch at Avengers Mansion when Rick Jones’s girlfriend, Lou-Ann Savannah, shows up on the verge of exhaustion and babbling about Thanos. The young woman passes out, and while examining her, Iron Man discovers one of the Controller’s slave-discs attached to the nape of Lou-Ann’s neck. Realizing his old foe has returned, Iron Man places her under a device intended to partially inhibit the disc’s operation. She is still there a little while later when Captain Marvel arrives at the mansion. He quickly switches interdimensional places with Rick Jones, who informs the Avengers that he, Lou-Ann, and Captain Marvel have indeed gotten mixed up with Thanos, who sees conquering Earth merely as a stepping stone to galactic domination. Rick trades places with Captain Marvel again as they head to the Avengers’ conference room for a full briefing. The Kree hero informs the team that Thanos has come to Earth in search of the Cosmic Cube, which the Avengers know could make him invincible. The meeting is interrupted by the Controller, who has broken into the mansion. Black Panther is knocked out in the fight, and when he awakens, he discovers that part of their headquarters has been completely demolished and he and his teammates are buried in the wreckage. As they dig themselves out, the heroes are frustrated to learn that the Controller kidnapped Lou-Ann and escaped. The Avengers notice that Captain Marvel’s hair has changed from silver to blond, but he says only that he’s had a strange experience that’s given him a new perspective. Work on reconstructing Avengers Mansion begins immediately, coordinated by the various charitable foundations Tony Stark has set up for such emergencies. Captain Marvel soon defeats the Controller and rescues Lou-Ann.
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<b>July 1966 –</b> Black Panther agrees to serve another term as Avengers chairman, taking over from Captain America. Soon after, chaos erupts in the Middle East when a group of super-powered terrorists dubbed the Elementals seals off the Egyptian capital, Cairo, behind an impenetrable force field. The United Nations requests that the Avengers mobilize when the terrorists launch attacks on neighboring countries like Israel and the Sudan but is reluctant to send the team in for fear of making international tensions in the region worse. Ultimately, freedom fighters within Cairo manage to liberate the city and defeat the Elementals, though details remain sketchy.
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<b>August–September 1966 –</b> T’Challa supervises the reconstruction of the team’s headquarters, working closely with the Stark charitable foundations. He decides to upgrade many of the mansion’s security systems with Wakandan technology.
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<b>October 1966 –</b> When Thor returns from his Scandinavian camping trip with the catatonic Loki, he agrees to take over as Avengers chairman, bringing T’Challa’s relatively quiet second stint to a close.
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On Halloween, Mantis senses mystic emanations that portend great danger in Rutland, Vermont. Remembering the events of previous years, the Avengers decide they’d better check it out. When they arrive, Tom Fagan, one of the parade’s organizers, asks them to ride on one of the floats. Black Panther, Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man agree, hoping to draw out the source of the unknown danger, but the Vision, the Scarlet Witch, the Swordsman, and Mantis decide not to participate and wander off into the crowd. Two hours later, as the parade is winding down, T’Challa is frustrated that nothing has happened. Fagan then leads the four heroes through the woods toward his house, only to suddenly reveal that he is the villain in disguise. Catching the Avengers off guard with some magic pellets, he knocks them out and takes them prisoner. When he comes to, T’Challa discovers that they have been captured by the Collector, but the Vision, the Scarlet Witch, the Swordsman, and Mantis have come to the rescue. The Collector activates two magic stones that produce a swarm of vampire bats that threaten the entire town, hoping to barter for his freedom. However, Mantis kicks the villain in the face and knocks him out, then uses the magic stones to make the bats vanish again. The real Tom Fagan thanks the Avengers for saving the city and offers them any further assistance he can provide. Thor asks Fagan if he would be willing to take over caring for Loki, feeling that Rutland would be a more appropriate setting for his near-catatonic brother. Fagan agrees, so the Avengers return to their Quinjet and fly back to New York. Unfortunately, the Collector escapes as soon as he regains consciousness.
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<b>November 1966 –</b> In the morning, Captain America and Thor take a Quinjet and fly Loki up to Rutland, Vermont. Sometime later, Cap holds a strategy session in which the team reviews their clash in the spring with the Defenders and how they all worked together to defeat the combined might of Loki and Dormammu.
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Captain America meets with T’Challa at Avengers Mansion to discuss the power imbalance between himself and his partner, the Falcon, who feels he needs to be more than a mere costumed athlete to work effectively alongside Cap. As an African American, the Falcon was uncomfortable asking for help from a white scientist and requested that Cap approach the Black Panther. T’Challa says he would be happy to help. Thus, the next morning, he lands a Wakandan airship in Harlem to pick up the Falcon and his girlfriend, Leila Taylor, and take them back to his kingdom in Africa. When they arrive, T’Challa has one of his court handmaidens, Tanzika, give Leila a tour of the Wakandan capital while he and the Falcon set about creating a high-tech flight rig for aerial combat. The next day, however, Leila is bored out of her mind and has a temper tantrum. T’Challa defuses the situation by arranging a shopping trip for Leila (along with a retinue of bodyguards) to the bustling metropolis of Lagos, Nigeria, on the Atlantic coast. Unfortunately, a couple hours later, T’Challa receives a report that Leila has been kidnapped and her escort gunned down in the street. Thus, Black Panther and Falcon head to Nigeria at once. Upon arrival in Lagos, the two heroes learn that Leila is being held prisoner by the exiled American gangster known as Stone-Face, whom the Falcon and Captain America busted in Harlem two years ago. They storm into Stone-Face’s headquarters, but during the fight, the Falcon loses control of his new flight rig and collides with the Black Panther, knocking them both out. When he comes to, T’Challa finds that the gangsters have brought them to a cliff on the coast to kill them. Both heroes are pushed off the cliff, but the Falcon is able to activate his flight rig, save the Black Panther, and soar back up to attack the gangsters. Black Panther scales the rock face and helps the Falcon finish off Stone-Face and his goons. After the gangsters have been turned over to the Nigerian authorities, Black Panther flies the Falcon and Leila back to Wakanda, where they make some final adjustments to the flight rig. T’Challa then arranges to have one of his pilots return the American couple to Harlem while he meets with his regent, N’Gassi. His advisors Taku, Zatama, and W’Kabi all urge T’Challa to remain in Wakanda, but he disregards their entreaties and is soon on his way back to New York.
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<br />Black Panther arrives at Avengers Mansion and finds the Swordsman, confined to a wheelchair, telling Thor, Iron Man, the Vision, and the Scarlet Witch that he’s determined to join them in the hunt for the international crime cartel Zodiac, as he wants revenge on them for injuring Mantis. However, it is clear that the Swordsman is in no condition to go anywhere. T’Challa is concerned when the Avengers inform him that Captain America has been framed for the murder of the small-time super-crook known as the Tumbler and is currently a fugitive from justice. Nevertheless, the Avengers split up to search the city for Zodiac’s hidden lair. Just before dawn, Thor summons them to a warehouse in New Jersey, where they find seven members of the cartel meeting with the crooked financier Cornelius Van Lunt. The Avengers crash through the window to take their foes by surprise, but Van Lunt slips out during the fight and seals off the warehouse, revealing it to be a deathtrap. Before the Avengers or the seven members of Zodiac can react, Van Lunt launches the building into orbit. Thor tries to smash through the side of the warehouse, only to discover the building is surrounded by the same kind of force field that Zodiac used when they held Manhattan hostage two years ago. His enchanted hammer passes through the field but then is unable to return to him. Appearing to panic, Thor dives behind some crates and hides under a tarp. The other Avengers and Zodiac are confused by the thunder god’s behavior. Scarlet Witch is able to create a momentary weak spot in the field with her mutant hex power, which allows Iron Man to fly out and retrieve the hammer. Before Iron Man can get back inside, though, Libra arrives in Zodiac’s spaceplane, the Star-Cruiser, and rescues them. Once Thor emerges from his hiding place, everyone joins Libra aboard the Star-Cruiser, and he flies them to Van Lunt’s penthouse. There, Van Lunt is revealed to be Taurus, and though he conspired with Capricorn, Gemini, and Virgo to kill off the other members of the cartel, he convinces his erstwhile partners-in-crime to put aside their differences long enough to destroy the Avengers. However, the Avengers win the fight, which ends when the Vision knocks Taurus into his swimming pool. Taurus panics, though, because he can’t swim, but the Vision makes no move to rescue him. Luckily, Mantis charges in at that moment, dives into the water, and hauls Taurus to the surface. Thor is angry with the Vision, but the synthezoid offers no defense, even when the Scarlet Witch presses him on it. Disgusted, Thor demands that Libra explain why he betrayed Taurus and saved them all. Libra admits that it was something of a mistake; he really just wanted to rescue Mantis, having assumed she was with the Avengers—because she is his daughter.
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The Avengers turn the rest of Zodiac over to the police and free Sgt. Damian Link, the team’s new liaison officer with the NYPD who had been taken prisoner, but they take Libra back to Avengers Mansion for questioning. There, he explains how he met Mantis’s mother when he was fighting in the First Indochina War as a member of the French Foreign Legion. After a whirlwind romance, they were married, but her brother, the crime lord known as Monsieur Khruul, objected to the match and tried to have them killed. Mantis was born while they were on the run. Eventually, Khruul’s assassins caught up to them and killed Libra’s wife, but he and his daughter found refuge in a remote monastery. The monks, who called themselves the Priests of Pama, raised Mantis, teaching her their unique form of martial arts. Finally, Libra admits, he left her there and returned to Europe. Consumed with rage, Mantis attacks Libra, but he subdues her, having learned the same fighting techniques that she did. Suddenly, the Avengers realize that the Swordsman has taken a Quinjet and is heading to Vietnam to take vengeance on Monsieur Khruul. Before they can follow, Iron Man must fly to Van Lunt’s property in New Jersey to retrieve their other Quinjet. When he returns, the Avengers set off, accompanied by Libra.
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When the Avengers arrive at Monsieur Khruul’s villa on the outskirts of Saigon, they find the Swordsman tied to a chair. He admits he broke under torture and told the crime lord about the Priests of Pama and how to find them. Libra then leads the team to the remote monastery, but they arrive too late—all the monks have been slaughtered by Khruul’s assassins. The Avengers defeat the assassins, but Khruul flees deeper into the temple, only to be killed by the Star-Stalker, a dragon-like alien who has come to feed on the planet’s life-energies now that the Priests of Pama can no longer prevent him from doing so. The Star-Stalker shrugs off the Avengers’ initial attack, then spins a cocoon around itself in order to transform into its energy-absorbing form. Black Panther contacts S.H.I.E.L.D. and arranges for them to deliver Zodiac’s ‘Star-Blaster’ weapon, which the agency has impounded. Unfortunately, when it emerges from its cocoon, the Star-Stalker proves to be impervious to the weapon’s rays. The creature slams Iron Man and Thor into each other, knocking them both out, then uses its tail to take out the Black Panther and Libra. When he comes to, T’Challa finds that Mantis and the Vision figured out how to defeat the Star-Stalker and were able to kill it. Leaving the Swordsman to recover in a Saigon hospital, the other Avengers return to New York, though Iron Man elects to remain in Vietnam on personal business.
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<b>December 1966 –</b> Black Panther is at Avengers Mansion when Captain America returns from his recent battle against the Secret Empire in Washington, D.C. The team congratulates Cap on clearing his name, but he is in no mood to celebrate. Cap says cryptically that there was more to the situation than was revealed on the news, but he refuses to discuss it further. Thor soon returns from a trip to visit Loki in Rutland, Vermont, and then Mantis brings in the Swordsman, who is just back from Vietnam. A little while later, the Avengers meet with Captain Marvel, Drax the Destroyer, and their enigmatic friend Moondragon to discuss the problem of Thanos. Mar-Vell reports that Thanos has conquered the colony on Titan and worse, is now in possession of the Cosmic Cube. However, the strategy session is cut short when Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Drax, and Moondragon suddenly vanish into thin air. The Avengers realize they must have been kidnapped by Thanos. Though unable to find any trace of their missing friends, the Avengers learn from the space station Starcore One that an armada of spaceships is heading toward Earth from the vicinity of Mars—presumably Thanos’s fleet of space pirates that Captain Marvel warned them of. Deciding to intercept the armada before it reaches Earth, the Avengers take their spaceworthy Quinjet and Zodiac’s confiscated Star-Cruiser out to meet the threat. As the battle is joined, Thor leaves the Quinjet and smashes into the command deck of the fleet’s flagship, where he takes on an army of armored aliens singlehandedly. T’Challa pilots the Star-Cruiser, using its devastating Star-Blaster weapon against the invaders, but the armada still manages to reach Earth. In high orbit, the Quinjet blasts one of the alien ships, but it plummets down through the atmosphere and crashes in New York City. The Avengers then detect an amorphous area of utter darkness nearby, which proves to be a cloaking field around the ship that serves as the armada’s central universal translator. Vision, Scarlet Witch, Swordsman, and Mantis don spacesuits and penetrate the cloaking field. Several minutes later, the field collapses, revealing the ship within. The Star-Cruiser and the Quinjet destroy the ship, causing the aliens to lose their ability to communicate with each other. Gaining the upper hand, the Avengers press their attack, and within the hour, the fleet of invading ships has been destroyed, with a handful of survivors in full retreat. Victorious, the Avengers soon land on the roof of their Manhattan headquarters.
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Unfortunately, the team quickly discovers that Thanos has used the Cosmic Cube to shift the entire planet out of phase to prevent them from interfering with his plans. The space armada, they realize, was merely a distraction meant to lure the Avengers off Earth while Thanos caused the phase-shift. Still, Mantis is able to contact Captain Marvel and tell him what happened. Captain Marvel and Drax the Destroyer then attack Thanos, their fight soon carrying them away from Avengers Mansion as the team watches helplessly. Mantis sets off after them, and a few minutes later, the phase-shift is abruptly cancelled out. Entering their headquarters, the Avengers discover that Iron Man has returned as well, though he’s not sure how he got there. After comparing notes, they track Mantis to a nearby rooftop, where they find her with Captain Marvel and Drax. Captain Marvel has somehow defeated Thanos by smashing the Cosmic Cube, though he and Mantis give only vague and evasive answers to the Avengers’ questions. As Drax flies off into the night sky, Captain Marvel trades places with Rick Jones, who accompanies the others back to the mansion. Not long afterward, Captain America and Iron Man bring a vintage cryogenic chamber to the team’s headquarters after discovering it in the rubble of an old government research facility that collapsed a few blocks away. Iron Man decides to have some technicians from Stark Industries examine it after the holidays. Rick then says goodbye to the Avengers and sets out on a 15-city concert tour as part of the opening act for a more famous rock-and-roll band.
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Having received yet another telegram from Wakanda inquiring about the length of his stay in America, Black Panther is brooding at Avengers Mansion when Ambassador Ronald Pershing of Rhodesia comes seeking the Avengers’ help. Though the ambassador refuses to shake hands with a black man, T’Challa ignores the insult and listens as Pershing describes the death threats sent recently to the staff of the Rhodesian embassy. The threats took on a new urgency that morning, he reports, when their groundskeeper was found burnt to a crisp. On behalf of the team, Vision agrees to look into the matter. Out in the street, however, Black Panther, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Swordsman, Mantis, and Pershing are suddenly trapped in a force field made of solid sound. Klaw, seemingly grown to giant size, looms over them and gloats as his new partner-in-crime, Solarr, hovers nearby inside an energy bubble. Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man emerge from the mansion and learn that the villains are threatening to roast their hostages unless the Black Panther surrenders the throne of Wakanda to Klaw, after which he intends to declare war on Rhodesia to pay them back for the harsh treatment he suffered there last year. When the giant Klaw proves to be a sonic illusion, the three senior Avengers search the neighborhood for the real villain, but Black Panther deduces that he is, in fact, masquerading as Ambassador Pershing. With their scheme revealed, Klaw and Solarr are quickly defeated, but Black Panther decides that he must take a leave of absence and return to Wakanda for a while. Thor, as current team chairman, grants the request and calls the Avengers to gather to toast their valiant African comrade. Unfortunately, their celebration is marred when the Scarlet Witch and the Vision get into an argument about the Swordsman’s assertion that the Vision is trying to steal Mantis away from him. T’Challa is frustrated with the Scarlet Witch’s bad attitude of late and the discord it has caused. The atmosphere around the mansion is still a bit tense a day or two later when the Black Panther joins the others for the Avengers’ fifth annual Christmas charity benefit.
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A few days later, T’Challa is preparing to depart for Wakanda when Jarvis informs him of a large, mysterious aircraft coming in low towards the city from the south. Since the rest of the Avengers are out on another mission, T’Challa agrees to check it out. Taking a Quinjet, Black Panther intercepts the craft and saves Spider-Man from falling to his doom. Spider-Man then explains that the airship is under the command of someone called Stegron, the Dinosaur Man, who is using it to bring an army of dinosaurs to New York City from the Savage Land. After conferring with Stegron’s former research partner, Dr. Curt Connors, Black Panther and Spider-Man work together to devise an extra-strong web formula to use against Stegron’s dinosaurs. Their work is cut short when a radio bulletin announces that the prehistoric horde has rampaged through Central Park and is heading toward Times Square. Racing to the scene, Black Panther fights with Stegron while Spider-Man tries to web up the dinosaurs. Connors arrives soon after and tells Stegron that his transformation into a Dinosaur Man is irreversible, prompting the villain to flee the battle on a pterodactyl. Spider-Man pursues him out over the harbor. When the Black Panther and Connors catch up to Spider-Man on the waterfront, they can see the pterodactyl webbed to the torch of the Statue of Liberty. However, Spider-Man reports that Stegron has drowned in the harbor. He clearly feels dejected that he was unable to save the mutated scientist. Black Panther then arranges with the authorities to have the captured dinosaurs returned to the Savage Land.
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Returning the Quinjet, Black Panther learns that the Scarlet Witch has apparently found her birth parents: the World War II era heroes known as the Whizzer and Miss America. The Whizzer had come to Avengers Mansion to reclaim the vintage cryogenic chamber, as his radioactive mutant son had been kept in suspended animation in it for the last 18 years. The capsule had opened, though, and the mutant went on a rampage, dubbing himself “Nuklo.” He was recaptured by the Avengers and returned to cryogenic stasis, although the Whizzer suffered a heart attack and is resting upstairs. T’Challa is happy for the Scarlet Witch and hopes that this discovery will improve her attitude.
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On the last day of the year, T’Challa asks Monica Lynne if she would like to accompany him back to Wakanda. Though she is not sure about giving up her career as a social worker, he convinces her of the many benefits of spending some time in Africa. T’Challa promises to have his people see to the settling of Monica’s affairs in New York so they can depart immediately. When they arrive in Wakanda, Monica is amazed by the royal palace and the adjoining “technological jungle” that T’Challa has constructed. However, during a grand feast to celebrate his return, T’Challa quickly realizes that his retinue isn’t too sure about their king bringing in his American girlfriend. He assures himself that they will warm up to Monica once they get to know her.
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<b>Notes:</b>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>January 1966 –</b> The Avengers’ battles with Magneto and the Lion God span <i>Avengers</i> #110–112, with a detour into <i>Daredevil</i> #99 and an additional flashback in <i>Captain America</i> #173. The Lion God is most likely the Nubian god Apedemak, who is related to the Egyptian pantheon. The Panther God worshiped in Wakanda is of the same pantheon, being a composite figure of the goddess Bast and her son Mahes.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>February 1966 –</b> The Avengers are rescued from Kang and Zarrko by Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Human Torch, and the Inhumans in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #9–11. The Avengers then repair the Statue of Liberty at the beginning of <i>Avengers</i> #113.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>March 1966 –</b> The Avengers save the Vision from the suicide bombers in the rest of <i>Avengers</i> #113.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>April 1966 –</b> Mantis and the Swordsman turn up and help the Avengers defeat the Lion God in <i>Avengers</i> #114. Apparently, the Lion God never manages to return from the dimension to which Thor banishes him.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>May 1966 –</b> The Avengers and the Defenders team up to defeat Loki and Dormammu in <i>Avengers</i> #115–118 and <i>Defenders</i> #8–11. Additional information is provided in a flashback in <i>Avengers</i> #157, and the Avengers return home in the first few pages of <i>Avengers</i> #119. While the Avengers are searching for the Evil Eye segments, Wakanda is doubtless caught up in the global wave of violence caused by the invading demons of Sominus, as seen in <i>Adventure into Fear</i> #14–15. Iron Man warns the Avengers about Thanos shortly after <i>Iron Man</i> #56.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>June 1966 –</b> The Avengers and Captain Marvel battle the Controller in <i>Captain Marvel</i> #27–30.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>July 1966 –</b> The United Nations places the Avengers on standby as the Elementals terrorize Cairo in <i>Supernatural Thrillers</i> #13. T’Challa and his teammates remain behind the scenes, though.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>October 1966 –</b> The bulk of <i>Avengers</i> #119 covers the last Rutland, Vermont Halloween Parade story.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>November 1966 –</b> T’Challa is behind the scenes during Captain America’s strategy session in <i>Defenders</i> #13. Black Panther teams up with the Falcon to defeat Stone-Face in <i>Captain America</i> #169–171, then helps the Avengers battle Zodiac, defeat Monsieur Khruul, and save the world from the Star-Stalker in <i>Avengers</i> #121–124.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>December 1966 –</b> The Avengers team up with Captain Marvel and his friends to battle Thanos and his space armada in <i>Captain Marvel</i> #31–33 and <i>Avengers</i> #125. Confusingly, three different time periods are mashed together in the first three pages of <i>Avengers</i> #125—Lou-Ann Savannah’s arrival at the mansion (in June), Libra being taken away by the police (in November), and Captain America returning to the Avengers after defeating the Secret Empire (in December). This is clearly done for dramatic effect. Captain America and Iron Man bring Nuklo’s cryogenic chamber to the mansion in a flashback in <i>Giant-Size Avengers</i> #1, then Rick Jones says goodbye in <i>Captain Marvel</i> #34. Klaw and Solarr attack in <i>Avengers</i> #126. Rhodesia is once again fictionalized as “Rudyarda,” named after the British author Rudyard Kipling. The Scarlet Witch and the Vision’s argument is seen in one of the many flashbacks in <i>Avengers</i> #280, in which T’Challa remains behind the scenes. Black Panther then helps Spider-Man defeat Stegron the Dinosaur Man in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #20. The Avengers’ encounter with the Whizzer and Nuklo is depicted in <i>Giant-Size Avengers</i> #1. Monica Lynne’s presence in Wakanda is revealed in <i>Jungle Action</i> #6, the start of the Black Panther’s first solo feature.
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<i><b>Jump Back:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2019/08/omu-black-panther-year-three.html">The Black Panther – Year Three</a></i>
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<i><b>Next Issue:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2019/11/omu-power-man-year-two.html">Power Man – Year Two</a></i>
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<br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-43307095296824343702019-08-26T00:12:00.004-05:002023-11-27T16:48:42.315-06:00OMU: Black Panther -- Year Three<b>The Black Panther</b> returns to his kingdom of Wakanda for much of the next twelve months and thus largely drops out of sight, as he didn’t have his own solo series at this point. Even so, we do get to see more of his developing friendship with Daredevil, which underscores the fact that T’Challa remains something of an outsider among the Avengers. As far as battling super-villains goes, he has rematches with Klaw and the Grim Reaper, as well as starting an interesting rivalry with his fellow monarch Doctor Doom. But we continue to wait for a more in-depth examination of Wakandan society.
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<b>Note:</b> The following timeline depicts the <b>Original Marvel Universe</b> (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2004/12/the-original-marvel-universe.html">previous posts</a> for a detailed explanation of my rationale). Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
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Now continuing… <b>The True History of the Black Panther!</b>
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<b>January 1965 –</b> T’Challa returns to Andrew Jackson High School in Harlem when the new semester starts and resumes his identity as teacher “Luke Charles,” wanting to finish up a few things before tendering his resignation and going home to Wakanda. He is concerned that his student Lonnie Carver continues to cut class consistently and remains a discipline problem. Feeling he has somehow failed the boy, T’Challa decides to try to find out where Lonnie goes when he skips school. However, the Black Panther is summoned to an Avengers meeting by Captain America and his new partner, the Falcon. When he arrives at Avengers Mansion, T’Challa is joined by Goliath, the Vision, Thor, Iron Man, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch. Cap and Falcon request assistance investigating a mystery in the Pacific Ocean, which they learned of while rescuing an old friend of the Falcon’s from a voodoo cult in New Orleans. T’Challa begs off, wanting to go back to Harlem to search for Lonnie. Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver also opt out, having promised Mister Fantastic they would keep an eye on the Baxter Building while the Fantastic Four are vacationing in Las Vegas. Even so, T’Challa feels that five superheroes should be enough for the mission Cap has proposed, and thus he returns to Harlem.
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A few nights later, Black Panther discovers Lonnie roaming the neighborhood with the Thunderbolts street gang. Bitterly disappointed, he decides to confront Lonnie about it the next time the boy is in class. Unfortunately, Lonnie does not show up for school at all over the next several days. Black Panther checks on Lonnie’s home and finds that his older brother, Billy Carver, doesn’t seem to be living there anymore. He is disturbed, though, to overhear Lonnie on the phone discussing an upcoming warehouse robbery. T’Challa decides to delay his return to Wakanda in hopes that he can save Lonnie from a life of crime.
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Held up by a routine Avengers meeting, Black Panther is late arriving at the scene of the warehouse robbery and finds that Daredevil has already busted it up. However, Lonnie has been badly injured after driving a truck into a brick wall, so the two heroes rush him to the nearest hospital. While Lonnie is in surgery, Black Panther and Daredevil go up to the roof to talk. T’Challa explains his history with the Carver brothers and his dual identity as “Luke Charles,” as well as revealing that he knows that Daredevil is Matt Murdock. When it seems that Lonnie has lost the will to live due to Billy having joined the Thunderbolts gang, Daredevil leads the Black Panther to another warehouse where they find Billy and the gang preparing to rob the local armory. The two heroes defeat the gang and rush Billy to Lonnie’s hospital room, where the older brother finally reveals that he was working undercover for the district attorney’s office to gather evidence against the Thunderbolts. With his faith in humanity restored, Lonnie’s condition begins to improve. Black Panther and Daredevil then get a bite to eat at a nearby all-night diner, where they get to know each other better.
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T’Challa leaves New York a day early when he learns that a long-dormant volcano in Wakanda has suddenly become active again. He tries to calm his panicky subjects and vows to investigate the cause of the disaster. Thus, he descends into the volcano, where he discovers a highly advanced tunnel-boring machine belonging to Doctor Doom. Black Panther confronts Doom, who has come to steal vibranium from the sacred mound. Unfortunately, Doom easily overcomes his fellow monarch and has him chained up inside the machine. Realizing that Doom could trigger a catastrophic natural disaster by tunneling into the mound, T’Challa knows that he may have to match the tyrant’s ruthlessness in order to defeat him. Breaking free of his bonds, Black Panther takes a weapon from one of Doom’s henchmen and threatens to fire into an exposed vein of unstable raw vibranium, which could set off a chain reaction that would destroy the entire nation. Determining that T’Challa would indeed sacrifice Wakanda to prevent him from enslaving the world, Doctor Doom accepts defeat and withdraws. As the tunnel-boring machine disappears into the earth, T’Challa breathes a sigh of relief, wondering if he really could have pulled the trigger.
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T’Challa then presides over a lavish state funeral for his uncle N’Baza, the late regent. By strictly adhering to tradition, T’Challa hopes to reassure those among his subjects who have felt disconcerted by his modernization efforts. Then, knowing that attempts by super-villains such as Klaw and Doctor Doom to steal vibranium are likely to persist, he turns his attention to developing a weapon he calls a ‘vibrotron,’ which can weaponize vibranium by generating a metal-disintegrating beam. This is based on the properties of the vibranium alloy found in the Savage Land dubbed the ‘anti-metal’ by the British scientist Lord Plunder. T’Challa becomes very disturbed when he watches TV coverage of the Avengers testifying before a congressional subcommittee on their involvement with aliens from outer space. The conservative politician in charge of the proceedings, H. Warren Craddock, seems to go out of his way to cast suspicion on the Avengers, who are represented by Goliath, the Vision, Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, and Rick Jones. The Fantastic Four also testify and are less than supportive of their fellow heroes, which T’Challa finds disappointing.
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<b>February 1965 –</b> A few weeks later, T’Challa is contacted by the Vision after the Avengers find Hercules suffering from amnesia. Though he gives the matter his full attention, T’Challa is unable to come up with anything likely to help. Soon after, he is summoned by Rick Jones to rendezvous with all other members of the Avengers at Garrett Castle in England, home of the Black Knight. When he arrives, Black Panther joins Captain America, Ant-Man, the Wasp, Hawkeye (who has abandoned the Goliath identity), the Vision, Thor, Iron Man, Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, and even the Hulk. The Black Knight leads them into the depths of the castle, where he summons up the spirit of his ancestor, Sir Percy of Scandia, the original Black Knight of legend. Sir Percy’s ghost reveals how Ares, the Greek god of war, came into possession of the magical Ebony Blade and teamed up with the Enchantress to conquer three worlds: Earth, Asgard, and Olympus. Their first move was to transform the gods of Olympus into crystalline statues and banish Hercules to Earth, bereft of his memory. Unexpectedly, the Swordsman swings down from the rafters and claims his Avengers membership, demanding to help stop Ares. Captain America is not inclined to trust the Swordsman, but Thor accepts him into their ranks. The thunder god then chooses the Vision, Iron Man, the Black Knight, and the Hulk to accompany him to Olympus while the rest remain behind to guard Earth. Black Panther’s squad soon detects an interdimensional portal opening in the center of London and speeds to the scene, where they find an army of demonic creatures pouring through a hole in space. The demons are quickly driven back into their own realm, at which point Thor’s squad emerges through the portal, having rescued Hercules and defeated the villains. However, Hercules must remain in Olympus to help Thor close the portal. Having won the day, the Avengers go their separate ways, and the Black Panther returns to Wakanda.
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<b>March 1965 –</b> Not long after the vibrotron has been completed, a small plane crash-lands in the Wakandan jungle. Bucking tradition, T’Challa has its two passengers—a black man named Nathan Kumalo and a white man named Jeth Robards—brought to the palace to recover. However, the two men steal the vibrotron that night and flee the country. A palace guard reports that he overheard the thieves planning to meet with their buyer in Rhodesia, but he was discovered and knocked out before he could apprehend them. Frustrated, T’Challa suits up as the Black Panther and pursues the thieves into the British colony notorious for its white-supremacist government. Unfortunately, he is arrested in the capital city, Salisbury, and given a harsh sentence when the authorities assume his Black Panther costume marks him as a member of some secret terrorist sect. In prison, T’Challa worries that his subjects will attempt to invade Rhodesia and rescue him, possibly starting a war. He is relieved when the Thing and the Human Torch turn up instead to help him recover the vibrotron. The Black Panther, the Thing, and the Human Torch then track Robards—who has already betrayed his partner—to an abandoned factory, where the buyer turns out to be Klaw. The villain immediately attacks the three heroes, and in the confusion, Robards tries to escape with the vibrotron in Klaw’s helicopter. Without hesitation, Klaw blows up the helicopter, killing Robards and destroying the vibrotron. The Thing crushes Klaw’s sonic blaster, after which he is easily defeated. Some white security guards appear and take Klaw into custody. They thank the Thing and the Human Torch for their help but ignore the Black Panther. Annoyed, the Thing smashes down a wall containing racially segregated doorways. T’Challa appreciates the gesture, and the three heroes leave the country together.
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<b>April–September 1965 –</b> For the next six months, T’Challa focuses on governing Wakanda with the help of his royal advisors N’Gassi, Taku, and Zatama. He spends much of his time negotiating among the various factions in Wakandan society and comes to rely on the insights offered by W’Kabi, the hotheaded captain of the palace guard. The royal physician Mendinao is encouraged to bring his expertise in traditional herbalism to the new state-of-the-art medical facility, which is run by T’Challa’s young cousin Joshua Itobo, who has a degree in western medicine. With the traitor M’Baku in prison in America, T’Challa’s half-brother Jakarra has been promoted to a position of authority in the military, but the estranged siblings rarely speak to each other. T’Challa is concerned about rumors of unrest among the villages in the western hill country, though a multitude of other issues compete for his attention. When he needs a break, T’Challa retreats to his “technological jungle,” where he can indulge his fascination with high-tech gadgets.
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<b>October 1965 –</b> Chafing under the yoke of kingship, T’Challa announces that he will be returning to the United States and rejoining the Avengers for a time, though he refuses to say how long he intends to stay away. He appoints N’Gassi to serve as regent during his absence, then departs. After settling in at his townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, T’Challa suits up as the Black Panther and walks over to Avengers Mansion. When he arrives, Black Panther is immediately recruited for a mission to Tierra del Fuego, at the southernmost tip of South America, in search of the missing Quicksilver. Scarlet Witch has learned that a trio of Chilean scientists doing research there has been abducted by strange men with superhuman powers, and she wants to check it out. Thus, Black Panther joins the Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, the Vision, and Iron Man, as well as Thor and his Asgardian lover Sif, aboard a Quinjet for the flight south. Along the way, T’Challa gets caught up on what the Avengers have been doing since January. When they arrive, the team discovers a tunnel that leads them into the mysterious Savage Land. While making their way through the prehistoric jungle, they are attacked by the Savage Land Mutates—Amphibius, Barbarus, Brainchild, Equilibrius, Gaza, Lorelei, and Lupo. Black Panther defeats Lupo while his teammates take care of the rest of their foes. Freeing the scientists, the Avengers march the Mutates out of the Savage Land and turn them over to the Chilean authorities to face kidnapping charges.
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The next day, back at Avengers Mansion, T’Challa meets Thor’s other friends who have joined him in exile from Asgard—Fandral, Volstagg, Hogun the Grim, Balder the Brave, and Hildegarde, as well as two aliens called Tana Nile and Silas Grant. They are all currently staying at the mansion while they figure out what to do with themselves. Thor and Sif go off together, saying they have an important appointment elsewhere. Meanwhile, Scarlet Witch continues to search for clues to her brother’s disappearance. She soon calls the Black Panther, Hawkeye, and Iron Man into the communications room to show them a news broadcast their butler, Edwin Jarvis, had recorded while they were away. Suddenly, however, the console shorts out, and Iron Man discovers that the device has been completely rewired. Fandral, who has been hanging out there the whole time, insists that he saw no one sabotage the console. While Iron Man makes the necessary repairs, the other Avengers leave to check out the new lead, but it proves to be another dead end. Later, Thor reports that he and Spider-Man rewired the console while battling a group of Asgardian Trolls who had stopped time with a magic crystal.
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A few days later, T’Challa receives a phone call from Daredevil, asking him to come out to San Francisco to help with a ruse to safeguard his secret identity. Since moving out to California, Daredevil explains, he has been seen in the company of the Black Widow in both his civilian and superhero identities, and people are starting to speculate. T’Challa agrees at once and takes a Quinjet out to the west coast. When he arrives, he disguises himself as Daredevil and fights off a Japanese assassin called the Blue Talon while Matt Murdock speaks with TV news crews on the scene. The Blue Talon is killed when he strikes a gas main with his steel hand blades, causing an explosion. The fake Daredevil then joins Murdock in front of the cameras and listens as he gives his elaborate cover story to the San Francisco police commissioner. After changing out of Daredevil’s costume, T’Challa returns to New York, glad to have been able to help a friend in need.
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T’Challa looks up Monica Lynne to let her know he’s back in the states. He finds her still pursuing her career as a social worker while moonlighting as a nightclub singer in Harlem. True to her word, she is also very active in the civil rights movement. T’Challa and Monica start dating on a regular basis, but being a very private person, he does not discuss his personal life with the Avengers.
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On Halloween, Black Panther joins the Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, and Iron Man in Manhattan’s East Village to investigate yet another mysterious disappearance. However, they are tricked into fighting each other by the Space Phantom, whom T’Challa remembers reading about in the Avengers’ files. While the Avengers are distracted by the Space Phantom’s boasting about his convoluted revenge scheme, the Grim Reaper sneaks up and hits them with a paralysis beam. The four heroes are taken back to the villains’ lair and imprisoned in an anti-gravity field. Black Panther is shocked when the Grim Reaper suggests that the Vision is working with them against the Avengers. He struggles to free himself from the anti-gravity trap, but to no avail.
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<b>November 1965 –</b> Some hours later, Black Panther is relieved when Captain America and the Vision come to the rescue. The Avengers then storm through the underground complex and fight with a horde of HYDRA agents under the Space Phantom’s command. Unfortunately, the Space Phantom’s alien technology is able to subdue the Avengers, and they soon find themselves trapped once again in the anti-gravity field. The villains leave to hunt down the Scarlet Witch, who has escaped. Vision explains that the Grim Reaper had offered to use the Space Phantom’s machines to transfer the Vision’s mind into Captain America’s body, in exchange for help destroying the Avengers. The synthezoid decided to play along until he could devise a plan to defeat the villains. Soon, the Space Phantom and the Grim Reaper return, having captured the Scarlet Witch, Rick Jones, and Edwin Jarvis. The Space Phantom decides to assume Rick’s form while he kills the heroes but is unexpectedly thrown back into Limbo due to Rick’s shared existence with Captain Marvel. Materializing in Rick’s place, the Kree-born superhero frees the Avengers, and they make short work of the HYDRA goons. The Grim Reaper surrenders, and he and his henchmen are all turned over to the authorities. When the team returns to Avengers Mansion, T’Challa is surprised to learn that the Vision and the Scarlet Witch have fallen in love.
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A week or so later, T’Challa is shocked by reports that Hank and Janet Pym have apparently died in a house fire, but Ant-Man soon turns up alive, fighting with a super-villain called Doctor Nemesis in the lower levels of Avengers Mansion. When his foe is defeated, Ant-Man leads the Black Panther, Captain America, the Vision, and Iron Man to rescue the Wasp from a secret A.I.M. installation on Long Island. The Avengers then invite the Pyms to return to active duty, but they decline, saying they prefer their private lives.
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<b>December 1965 –</b> Two days after Hawkeye abruptly disappears from Avengers Mansion, an oddly worded letter arrives in the mail informing the team that the archer has accepted a business opportunity with a notorious corporate tycoon known as Champion. Knowing Hawkeye to be impulsive, T’Challa doesn’t think much of it.
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A couple weeks later, Black Panther attends the fourth annual Avengers Christmas charity benefit with Captain America, the Vision, Iron Man, and the Scarlet Witch. T’Challa decides not to invite Monica to the party at the mansion but takes her out for a night on the town instead. After a day or so, Scarlet Witch convinces her teammates that Hawkeye’s letter is a forgery and he may be in trouble. Black Panther, Vision, Thor, and Iron Man join her in traveling to California, where they find Hawkeye held prisoner by Champion in the Mojave Desert. The Avengers overcome Champion and his gang of masked henchmen and foil their plot to detonate a string of bombs along the San Andreas Fault. Hawkeye refuses to rejoin the team, though, so the Avengers leave him in California and fly back to New York.
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<b>Notes:</b>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>January 1965 –</b> The Black Panther and Daredevil team up against the Thunderbolts street gang in <i>Daredevil</i> #69. The Avengers meeting takes place in <i>Avengers</i> #88. T’Challa then returns to Wakanda and battles Doctor Doom in <i>Astonishing Tales</i> #6–7. The U.S. government’s Alien Activities Commission is created by the newly inaugurated President Morris N. Richardson, who is actually the leader of the subversive organization known as the Secret Empire. The head of the commission, H. Warren Craddock (actually a Skrull in disguise), grills the Avengers during televised hearings in <i>Avengers</i> #92.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>February 1965 –</b> Black Panther helps the Avengers foil Ares’ scheme of interdimensional conquest in <i>Avengers</i> #99–100.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>March 1965 –</b> Black Panther teams up with the Thing and the Human Torch to battle Klaw in <i>Fantastic Four</i> #119. In the story, Rhodesia is fictionalized as “Rudyarda,” named after British author Rudyard Kipling, who wrote, among other things, the imperialist poem “The White Man’s Burden.” There’s also some nonsense about the Black Panther changing his name to “the Black Leopard,” but that can be dispensed with. Shortly after this, T’Challa finds himself dealing with the end of the world—along with everyone else on the disintegrating planet—during <i>Thor</i> #185–188, but luckily Odin erases those events from the timestream, so they never happened.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>October 1965 –</b> Black Panther returns to the Avengers in time to join them on their mission to the Savage Land in <i>Avengers</i> #105. While hiking out to the Swamp Men’s village, T’Challa tells his teammates the tales Daredevil heard from Ka-Zar about how Magneto created the Savage Land Mutates. I assume Daredevil told the Black Panther about it at the diner in January. T’Challa is behind the scenes during the “negative time” effect in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #7. Four days later, Black Panther flies out to San Francisco to lend Daredevil a hand with his secret identity problems in <i>Daredevil</i> #92. The early days of T’Challa’s romance with Monica Lynne occur largely behind the scenes, as little attention was paid to his personal life during this period. Black Panther is then captured along with his fellow Avengers by the Space Phantom and the Grim Reaper in <i>Avengers</i> #106–107.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>November 1965 –</b> The Space Phantom / Grim Reaper story concludes in <i>Avengers</i> #108, during which T’Challa meets Captain Marvel for the first time. Black Panther then appears in <i>Marvel Feature</i> #10 for the conclusion of Ant-Man’s brief revival series.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>December 1965 –</b> Black Panther joins the Avengers in rescuing Hawkeye from the megalomaniac Champion in <i>Avengers</i> #109. The team’s annual Christmas charity benefit occurs behind the scenes, as usual.
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<i><b>Next Issue:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2019/09/omu-black-panther-year-four.html">The Black Panther – Year Four</a></i>
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<i><b>Jump Back:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2019/06/omu-black-panther-year-two.html">The Black Panther – Year Two</a></i>
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<br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-90895212530829416642019-06-18T10:13:00.013-05:002023-11-21T09:34:03.712-06:00OMU: Black Panther -- Year Two<p><b>The Black Panther</b> moves out into the wider Marvel Universe during the next twelve months, relocating to New York City as a member of the Avengers. He also meets his first love-interest, the American singer, social worker, and civil rights activist Monica Lynne. Additionally, since writer/editor Roy Thomas seemed to believe that all superheroes must have a secret identity, T’Challa started teaching high school under the alias “Luke Charles,” though the storyline was never developed and ultimately fizzled out. Though underutilized, the Black Panther is frequently seen giving the Avengers the benefit of his genius for mechanical engineering, which easily rivals Tony Stark’s, particularly with the introduction of the team’s signature aircraft, the Quinjet.
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<b>Note:</b> The following timeline depicts the <b>Original Marvel Universe</b> (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2004/12/the-original-marvel-universe.html">previous posts</a> for a detailed explanation of my rationale). Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
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Now continuing… <b>The True History of the Black Panther!</b>
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<b>January–February 1964 –</b> T’Challa, recently crowned monarch of the small African nation of Wakanda, continues his controversial modernizations efforts. He becomes increasingly frustrated with the limitations imposed on him by his role as king, wanting to have a greater direct impact on people’s lives both at home and abroad.
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<b>March 1964 –</b> T’Challa takes some of his warriors to inspect an island in the Caribbean that he has purchased. Detecting intruders, T’Challa suits up as the Black Panther and goes to investigate. He finds three members of the royal family of the Inhumans: Black Bolt, Medusa, and Karnak. They are searching for the source of an unknown danger, and learning they are friends of the Fantastic Four, T’Challa decides to offer them assistance. Using their uncanny abilities, the Inhumans discover a high-tech installation hidden under the ground, only to be attacked by three mercenaries with strange weapons. However, Live Wire, Shellshock, and Ivan Karlovich are quickly defeated by the Black Panther and the Inhumans. Moving deeper into the complex, T’Challa is glad when two more Inhumans, Triton and Lockjaw, teleport in with the Human Torch and the Thing. Triton confirms Black Bolt’s suspicion that the villain they are seeking, known as Psycho-Man, threatens the world with a sinister emotion-manipulating ray. When a nightmarish, many-tentacled monster attacks them, Black Panther slips into an air duct and makes his way to the central control room. No sooner has he spotted Psycho-Man, though, than a large, panther-like monster appears in the duct and attacks him. Their brutal battle ends when the creature is disintegrated by a strange shockwave. Black Panther races back to his friends and finds them, now joined by another Inhuman called Gorgon, writhing under their foe’s emotion-rays. T’Challa leaps out of the duct and tackles Psycho-Man, but the villain collapses like an empty suit. The others explain that Psycho-Man himself is microscopic, having come from a “sub-atomic” realm known as a microverse to conquer the Earth with his bizarre technology, and with his armor disabled, he no longer poses a threat. The Fantastic Four take possession of Psycho-Man’s armor and the emotion-ray generator he was carrying so Mister Fantastic can study them at the Baxter Building. T’Challa claims the villain’s base, as it is on his property, and sets about dismantling and examining the fully-operational, large-scale “mind-ray” device their foe was about to activate.
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<b>April 1964 –</b> Back in Wakanda, T’Challa is informed that one of his border outposts has been destroyed by foreign mercenaries. Fearing that Klaw may be making another attempt to steal vibranium, Black Panther goes to investigate. He finds the outpost’s personnel have all been killed and tracks the mercenaries into the jungle, where he attacks them. Unfortunately, the mercenaries overwhelm T’Challa with their high-tech weapons and give him a brutal beating. Nevertheless, he trails his foes back to their base camp, where he is astonished to discover that their leader appears to be Baron Zemo, the infamous Nazi war criminal reported killed while battling Captain America last year. Black Panther slips back to the palace to have his wounds treated, but soon a blistering energy beam from space carves a swath of destruction through the jungle. T’Challa’s military advisors report that the beam originates from an orbiting satellite that is protected by an impenetrable force field. Though he knows their only chance is to disable the satellite’s control center on the ground, T’Challa realizes he cannot take on Baron Zemo and his private army alone. Thus, he decides to call on the villain’s nemesis, Captain America, for help.
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T’Challa sends an aero-car to New York City and is relieved when Captain America agrees to lend a hand. When the aero-car enters Wakandan airspace about an hour later, though, it is nearly destroyed by a blast from the orbiting satellite. T’Challa brings the ship in for a safe landing by remote control, then briefs the star-spangled hero on the situation. However, T’Challa withholds the identity of their foe, fearing Captain America would find it impossible to believe. Before they set out, Cap phones his teammates at Avengers Mansion and leaves a message on their answering service. The two heroes then track down the mercenaries and fight them in the jungle, only to be taken prisoner. In his underground bunker, Baron Zemo gives his enemies a beating while gloating about his plans to use his orbiting death-ray to destroy the United States. When Zemo’s agent, the notorious spy Irma Kruhl, arrives with a list of American military targets, T’Challa begins to worry that he and Cap have failed. Luckily, she proves to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in disguise and destroys Zemo’s satellite control panel with a flame-thrower concealed in her briefcase. As the trio fights its way through Zemo’s mercenaries, T’Challa realizes that S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent 13 is also Captain America’s girlfriend. Their escape is thwarted by a powerful robot, which delays them long enough for Zemo and his mercenaries to swarm in and hold the trio at gunpoint. However, Cap grabs Zemo and yanks off his facemask, revealing him to be an impostor. Cap recognizes the man as Zemo’s former pilot, Franz Gruber. Outraged by the deception, one of the mercenaries shoots the impostor dead. Black Panther demands that the mercenaries surrender, as the warriors of Wakanda now have the bunker surrounded. Realizing they aren’t going to get paid, the mercenaries comply. As Zemo’s forces are taken into custody, Agent 13 deactivates the force field around the satellite, allowing S.H.I.E.L.D. to destroy it with a missile strike. Cap then takes T’Challa aside and explains that he’s taking a leave of absence from the Avengers and suggests that the Black Panther serve as his replacement. T’Challa realizes that this is the opportunity he’s been waiting for to make a difference in the world outside Wakanda. He accepts the offer, so Cap radios his teammates and arranges it. T’Challa then asks his friend M’Baku to serve as regent while he is in America with the Avengers. M’Baku agrees and appoints his ally N’Gamo to serve as his chancellor. Believing Wakanda is in good hands, T’Challa flies Captain America and Agent 13 back to the United States.
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About an hour after landing in New York City, Black Panther arrives at Avengers Mansion, only to find the building completely dark. He enters through a hatch in the ceiling that Captain America told him about and is shocked to discover Goliath, the Wasp, and Hawkeye apparently dead on the floor. S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jasper Sitwell finds the Black Panther there and places him under arrest. When the police arrive, Hawkeye’s girlfriend, Natasha Romanoff, enters as well and is distraught to find her friends dead. She tells Sitwell that she’s never heard the Avengers mention anyone called the Black Panther, which makes the authorities doubt T’Challa’s story. When the conference room access code given to him by Captain America fails to work, T’Challa realizes he’s being framed for the murders, so he does not resist when the police escort him to the local precinct. When they arrive, though, T’Challa realizes that the true killer must have been hiding in the conference room. Thus, while the police are trying to sort out whether he actually has diplomatic immunity, T’Challa escapes from custody and returns to the scene of the crime. His suspicions are confirmed when he sneaks inside and finds the Grim Reaper, a super-villain with a scythe-like weapon, ranting to himself about having avenged the death of his brother, Wonder Man. Black Panther attacks him and in the ensuing battle learns that the Avengers are not truly dead—the Grim Reaper’s scythe merely induced a death-like state so the three heroes would either be buried alive or killed by the autopsy. Disgusted by such villainy, T’Challa fights even more savagely until the Grim Reaper accidentally stabs himself with his scythe. Black Panther seizes the weapon and, leaving his foe writhing in pain, races to the hospital where the Avengers were taken. There, he uses the scythe to revive them, ignoring the injuries he sustained during the fight. The three grateful heroes clear things up with the police, then take T’Challa back to the mansion. Unfortunately, the Grim Reaper has made good his escape. Goliath, Wasp, and Hawkeye vote unanimously to induct the Black Panther into their ranks.
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In the days that follow, T’Challa meets the Avengers’ butler, Edwin Jarvis. Though Jarvis offers to prepare a room for T’Challa in the mansion, the king declines, preferring to purchase a townhouse on the Upper West Side. T’Challa then summons a small staff of domestic servants from Wakanda to manage the property for him. He is also interested to meet Goliath’s research partner, an African-American scientist named Bill Foster. However, T’Challa senses a thinly veiled animosity from the Wasp’s chauffeur, Charles Matthews, and wonders what lies behind it. While recovering from the injuries he sustained fighting the Grim Reaper, T’Challa familiarizes himself with the Avengers’ files and reports.
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<b>May 1964 –</b> Black Panther and Goliath capture an intruder who turns out to be the Angel, a member of the X-Men. Angel informs them that he can lead them to the island fortress of the infamous mutant terrorist Magneto, where Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, former members of the Avengers, are being held captive along with the other X-Men. Joined by the Wasp and Hawkeye, they take an aero-car out to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and storm Magneto’s complex. However, the Avengers find they must fight the other X-Men—Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, and the Beast—as Magneto has somehow brainwashed them. The Avengers overcome the X-Men and smash their way into Magneto’s command center. Unexpectedly, Magneto’s obsequious henchman, the Toad, activates a self-destruct mechanism, declaring that the entire island will be destroyed in less than a minute. The Avengers and the X-Men, now free of their foe’s influence, evacuate the fortress as Magneto and the Toad flee for their lives. Reaching the Avengers’ aero-car on the beach, the two teams see Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch escaping with the Toad in another airship. Magneto tries to join them, but the Toad kicks him away. Magneto falls into the ocean from a great height as a series of tremendous explosions obliterate the island. As the aero-car takes to the skies, the Avengers can only assume that Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch want nothing more to do with them. Dejectedly, the Avengers drop the X-Men off in Manhattan on their way home. T’Challa, however, is proud that his first official mission with the Avengers was a success.
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<br />Black Panther and Goliath work together to improve the security systems at Avengers Mansion. However, just hours after informing Jarvis about the new protocols, the mansion is invaded by a gang of super-villains known as the Masters of Evil, comprised of Klaw, the Melter, the Radioactive Man, and Whirlwind. Taken unawares, the Avengers are quickly captured by their enemies. The team is shocked when the new leader of the Masters of Evil, the Crimson Cowl, is revealed to be Edwin Jarvis himself. Black Panther is then knocked unconscious, and when he wakes up, he finds himself trapped with his teammates inside a missile with an armed nuclear warhead. The Crimson Cowl appears on a closed-circuit TV monitor and taunts the Avengers by revealing Jarvis to be merely his hypnotized pawn. The real Crimson Cowl is in fact a robot calling itself Ultron-5. The missile is then launched, with the Avengers still aboard, but they are saved in mid-flight by the new Black Knight, who had tried to infiltrate the Masters of Evil by posing as his villainous predecessor. After a quick battle, the heroes capture Klaw, the Melter, and the Radioactive Man, but Whirlwind manages to escape. Once the missile’s hydrogen bomb has been disarmed, the Black Knight describes how Jarvis helped him to save the Avengers’ lives and explains that the butler betrayed the team because he needed money to pay for his mother’s chemotherapy treatments. Back at the mansion, Jarvis insists that he believed the Avengers would easily defeat the Masters of Evil and was desperate to help his ailing mother. However, he is unable to explain why he didn’t seek help from Tony Stark, or why he can’t remember where the hidden base of Ultron-5 is located. Nevertheless, the Avengers decide to give Jarvis a second chance, since he did risk his life to save theirs, but they remain somewhat wary of their butler in the weeks to follow.
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<b>June 1964 –</b> T’Challa spends a quiet month exploring New York City and using the Avengers’ training facilities. Though he remains excited to be part of the world’s foremost superhero team, he realizes there is still something in the back of his mind that leaves him feeling vaguely dissatisfied.
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<b>July 1964 –</b> At the beginning of the month, the Avengers convince T’Challa to take a turn as team chairman. He finds that such administrative duties come naturally to him. Then, a few days after hosting a Fourth-of-July picnic attended by the Fantastic Four, the Avengers receive a mysterious summons from Captain America which leads them to Doctor Doom’s abandoned castle in upstate New York. Having learned about the notorious super-villain’s time machine from Mister Fantastic, Cap is intent on using it to find out if there’s any way his old junior partner, Bucky, could have escaped his fiery death in 1945. Leaving the Wasp to operate the time machine’s control panel, Black Panther, Captain America, Goliath, and Hawkeye journey back to the fateful day when Cap entered a state of suspended animation. Materializing as invisible, intangible phantoms, they watch Cap and Bucky’s encounter with Baron Zemo at a U.S. Army base on the British coast. However, when Zemo knocks his foes out and binds them to the drone plane he is about to launch, the Avengers unexpectedly materialize fully, allowing Cap to free his past self. After a brief struggle with Zemo’s android henchmen, the Avengers return to their previous wraith-like state. The heroes watch grimly as Bucky is engulfed in a fireball while trying to deactivate the drone plane and Cap’s past self plunges into the sea. The time machine then takes the Avengers back to Doctor Doom’s castle. The Wasp admits she momentarily dozed off at the controls, and Goliath speculates that that must have been what caused them to fully phase into the past. The team locks up the castle and jets back to Manhattan.
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Out for a walk one evening, T’Challa ruminates on his discontentment, thinking he should be trying to help people in a more direct manner. When he stumbles upon a robbery in progress, he becomes the Black Panther and captures the crooks in spectacular fashion. A group of African-American children have witnessed the incident, he realizes, and when one boy says he could use a Black Panther up on his block, T’Challa decides he needs to focus his efforts on the city’s poor black neighborhoods. He is then summoned back to Avengers Mansion, where he joins Goliath, the Wasp, and Hawkeye in a laboratory where they are examining an inert android with red skin and a strange green-and-gold costume. T’Challa is intrigued when the others discuss a failed project by Goliath and Bill Foster to build a “synthezoid,” a unique synthesis of android and robot. Suddenly, the android revives and attacks them, and during the fight he adopts the name “the Vision” for himself, based on a comment the Wasp had made about him. Goliath realizes that the Vision possesses the power to control his own density and tries to reason with him. The android agrees to stop fighting as he attempts to remember where he came from and why he felt compelled to attack the Avengers. The Avengers are shocked when the Vision recalls that his creator was a robot called Ultron-5. He then agrees to lead the Avengers to Ultron-5’s headquarters, hidden beneath an abandoned tenement on New York’s Lower East Side. When they arrive, the Avengers come under fire from automated defensive systems, and Goliath is separated from his teammates. Before the other Avengers can decide what to do, the walls start closing in on them. Insisting that he was unaware such traps awaited them, Vision phases through the wall and disappears. Several minutes later, Vision frees them and leads them to the smoking wreck of Ultron-5’s body, where they are rejoined by Goliath. Grateful to the Vision for defeating Ultron-5, the Avengers invite him to accompany them back to the mansion. Goliath takes the wreckage of Ultron-5’s body for study but is unable to find the robot’s head. When they arrive at their headquarters, Hawkeye introduces the Vision to Jarvis, since the android will be staying at Avengers Mansion for the time being.
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Soon after, T’Challa decides to become a high school teacher for at-risk inner-city kids. He contacts the New York City school system, using the “Luke Charles” identity that was created for him when he was a college student, and makes all the necessary arrangements.
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<b>August 1964 –</b> Black Panther joins Captain America, Goliath, the Wasp, Hawkeye, Thor, and Iron Man at Avengers Mansion to discuss the Vision’s petition for membership. Searching for clues as to the Vision’s origins, the Avengers head out to Goliath’s abandoned suburban laboratory in Cresskill, New Jersey. There, they discover that Goliath created Ultron back in January, though the evil robot erased his memory of it, and it then went on to evolve itself into Ultron-5. Seeking to destroy the Avengers, Ultron-5 created the Vision using recordings the team had made of Wonder Man’s brain patterns last year. The Avengers then return to their mansion and, after some deliberation, vote to accept the Vision into their ranks. T’Challa is surprised when the Vision appears to be overcome with emotion after hearing their decision.
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<b>September 1964 –</b> T’Challa arrives early for a team meeting, since Goliath asked to discuss something with him beforehand. However, Goliath doesn’t show up, so T’Challa holds a training session with Hawkeye and the Vision instead. When the Wasp gets there, she becomes concerned about her partner’s absence. While they are all discussing it, a costumed man calling himself “Yellowjacket” appears and demands to be made a member of the Avengers. When the outraged heroes scoff at his overinflated ego, Yellowjacket claims to have killed Goliath. The Wasp nearly faints at this news. With the help of a swarm of wasps, Yellowjacket fights off the three male Avengers and kidnaps their female teammate. Later, the Wasp reactivates her emergency transponder signal, allowing the Black Panther, Hawkeye, and the Vision to track her to Cresskill City Hall in New Jersey. They are ready to fight with Yellowjacket when he and the Wasp emerge from the building, but she informs her confused teammates that she intends to marry Yellowjacket as soon as possible.
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A couple of days later, Black Panther, Hawkeye, and Vision are joined by Captain America and Iron Man for the impromptu wedding ceremony. When the bride and groom arrive at the mansion, the Wasp angrily insists that the Avengers respect her decision. T’Challa then mingles with the other guests, including Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Girl, the Thing, the Human Torch and his girlfriend Crystal, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, Iceman, and the Beast, as well as the Black Knight. He also meets Daredevil, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange and his girlfriend Clea, and Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Before the ceremony can begin, though, Cap, Iron Man, and Fury are called away on other business. The ceremony goes well, but when the Wasp and Yellowjacket are cutting the cake afterwards, a giant python bursts out of the cake and attacks them. The Avengers ask their guests to step out while they deal with the situation. Moments later, the team is attacked by the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime: Princess Python, the crafty Clown, Ernesto and Luigi Gambonno, and the Human Cannonball. While the Gambonno brothers keep the Black Panther busy, the giant python coils around the Wasp, who has been stunned by the Ringmaster. Yellowjacket leaps to her defense but is unable to reach her fast enough. Unexpectedly, Yellowjacket grows to giant-size, revealing himself to be Goliath in a different costume, and rescues his bride. The Circus of Crime is quickly defeated, and the police are called to take them into custody. The wedding guests return for the reception and are pleased to learn that “Yellowjacket” is really the Wasp’s old beau and not some stranger. When the party ends, the newlyweds depart for their honeymoon.
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The following Monday, T’Challa starts teaching at Andrew Jackson High School in Harlem, using the alias “Luke Charles.” He finds the work to be highly rewarding and feels he’s having a positive impact on his students’ lives. Not long after, T’Challa is shocked when Iron Man informs the Avengers that Captain America has apparently been gunned down by HYDRA assassins on the waterfront. They try to learn more about the circumstances of Cap’s death from Rick Jones, who is dressed as Cap’s WWII-era partner Bucky, but the lad is too upset to discuss it. A funeral service is quickly arranged, attended also by Nick Fury and other agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., including Cap’s bereaved girlfriend Agent 13, who now introduces herself as Sharon Carter. During the eulogy, everyone present is suddenly knocked out by a powerful anesthetic gas. When the Black Panther comes to, he finds himself in a coffin about to be buried alive by HYDRA agents in a gloomy cemetery. However, Captain America reappears and, with Rick, pursues the fleeing HYDRA agents as the Avengers recover their senses. Relieved that Cap is not dead after all, they return to Avengers Mansion.
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The Avengers are contacted by the astral form of Doctor Strange, who is seeking help to save the world. Recognizing him from the wedding, they agree at once, although only the Black Panther, Hawkeye, and the Vision are available. They follow the ectoplasmic Doctor Strange to a cemetery elsewhere in the city, flying in one of the new Quinjets that T’Challa has provided. There, they discover the comatose form of the Black Knight. Rejoining his physical body, Doctor Strange explains that the Black Knight was laid low by a magical crystal while they were investigating an evil cult called the Sons of Satannish. Determined to save the Black Knight, T’Challa carries him to the Quinjet and rushes him to the team’s medical facilities. There, Doctor Strange reluctantly performs a simple operation and the team’s ultra-rejuvenator device does the rest, enabling the Black Knight to make a quick recovery. Vision reports to the others that bizarre natural phenomena have been reported worldwide, such as volcanoes erupting through the ice in Antarctica and snow falling in the jungles of central Africa. Time has run out, Doctor Strange reveals, and the world-threatening spell cast by the Sons of Satannish has done its work, bringing the Asgardian monsters Ymir and Surtur to Earth. And so, Black Panther and Vision fly the Quinjet to Wakanda to battle Ymir while Hawkeye and the Black Knight take on Surtur in Antarctica, all in order to give Doctor Strange time to gain mental control over the magical crystal so that he can use it to send the two creatures back from whence they came. Ymir wreaks havoc on Wakanda and destroys the Quinjet, but at the critical moment, the monster is teleported to Antarctica along with the two heroes. Ymir and Surtur inadvertently strike each other, causing a tremendous implosion. When the smoke clears, the astral form of Doctor Strange appears and congratulates the Avengers and the Black Knight on their victory.
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Stopping in Wakanda on the way back to New York, Black Panther, Hawkeye, Vision, and the Black Knight discover that T’Challa’s regent, M’Baku, is scheming to seize the throne. After the other three have been imprisoned, T’Challa is attacked by M’Baku, who is dressed in the forbidden garb of the White Gorilla and calling himself the Man-Ape. As they fight, T’Challa is astonished by M’Baku’s newfound superhuman strength and suspects his treacherous accomplice, N’Gamo, had something to do with it. Their battle leads them through the technological jungle to the nuclear power plant beneath it. There, Black Panther saves the Man-Ape from falling into a reactor, only to be jolted into unconsciousness when his ungrateful foe grabs a handful of live wires. When he comes to, T’Challa finds himself shackled to a stone slab at the base of the sacred panther totem. The Man-Ape tries to topple the totem over onto T’Challa, but instead it just crumbles and crushes the villain under tons of stone. Hawkeye, Vision, and the Black Knight come running up, having finally freed themselves, and release the Black Panther from his bonds. Disillusioned by his friend’s betrayal, T’Challa reluctantly presses old N’Baza back into service as regent before returning to America. He is frustrated when N’Gamo somehow escapes with M’Baku’s body, worried that the Man-Ape will become a martyr to those dissatisfied with T’Challa’s rule. Taking a new Quinjet, the Avengers drop the Black Knight off in England on their way home.
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<br />
When they arrive at Avengers Mansion, the three heroes are greeted by Yellowjacket and the Wasp, just back from their honeymoon. They explain that Yellowjacket has permanently abandoned his Goliath identity due to the ill-effects of constantly enlarging himself. Before he can destroy his growth serums, though, the Avengers receive an emergency message they believe to be from Nick Fury, which sends them on a wild goose chase to the Caribbean Islands in search of Natasha Romanoff. T’Challa uses his authority as team chairman to make Hawkeye stay behind, believing he’d be too emotionally involved in such a mission. When the four heroes return, however, they find that Hawkeye has disappeared. Soon after, they hear a message broadcast over hijacked radio and TV signals by a super-villain Yellowjacket identifies as his old enemy Egghead. The villain claims to be causing a string of blackouts across the country and threatens to shut down the entire nation’s power grid if his demands are not met. While the Black Panther goes out in search of Hawkeye, Yellowjacket tries to determine where Egghead’s broadcast originated.
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<br />
About a day later, the Avengers discover that Egghead is broadcasting from an orbiting space station. Unfortunately, the station is cloaked and they are unable to determine its precise coordinates. The villain ups the ante by revealing his powerful “death-ray,” which he demonstrates by obliterating an evacuated Midwestern town. Hawkeye finally returns, accompanied by Natasha, and reveals that he has given up archery to assume the Goliath identity. Yellowjacket agrees to give the new Goliath full use of his size-changing potions. Their meeting is interrupted when Jarvis escorts in the notorious racketeer Barney Barton, who has information on Egghead’s scheme. T’Challa is suspicious of the obvious personal connection between the gangster and Hawkeye/Goliath, but he agrees to allow Barton to accompany the team on their raid of Egghead’s space station. Using the orbital coordinates Barton provides, the Avengers reach the station aboard a Wakandan-built space rocket. There, they battle Egghead’s army of robots until they fall victim to a paralysis ray. Fortunately, Barney Barton sacrifices himself to save the Avengers. Black Panther is stunned to learn that Barton was Hawkeye’s brother.
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<br />
Since Egghead managed to escape, the Avengers return to their headquarters to discuss their plan of action. Goliath tells them a bit about when he was just a circus performer named Clint Barton and how Barney helped him survive after they’d been orphaned. Suddenly, the Swordsman invades their meeting room, though he is a bit confused about Hawkeye’s new identity. Goliath tries to prevent his teammates from interfering in what he considers to be a private fight, which allows the Swordsman to fire energy beams from his sword that blast the Black Panther, Yellowjacket, the Wasp, and the Vision into unconsciousness. When the Avengers revive, they find both Goliath and the Swordsman are gone, but before long reports come in that Goliath singlehandedly captured the Swordsman and Egghead and turned them over to the police. Soon after, the Avengers grow concerned when Captain America avoids them following a nearly fatal battle against HYDRA. Yellowjacket is certain Cap must have his reasons for his behavior, and Goliath reminds them that, despite recent setbacks, many active HYDRA cells remain. T’Challa is sure that if anyone can bring down HYDRA, it’s Captain America.
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<br />
T’Challa is surprised when a Wakandan national named N’Jadaka visits him at Avengers Mansion and reveals that he was among those kidnapped by Ulysses Klaw’s men during their failed invasion eleven years ago. He eventually escaped from them, he explains, but lacked the means to return home. T’Challa is very sympathetic to N’Jadaka’s plight and promises to arrange for him to return to Wakanda. A few days later, T’Challa learns from his chief communications officer, Taku, that an army of mercenaries has attacked the country, apparently intent on freeing Zemo’s gang from their island prison. Deciding he’d better take charge of the situation, T’Challa steps down as Avengers chairman a bit early and hands the gavel off to the Vision. He then takes a Quinjet, stopping at the Harlem tenement where N’Jadaka has been living to pick him up. T’Challa is amused by the vast amount of luggage that N’Jadaka is bringing with him. When they land in Wakanda, T’Challa wishes N’Jadaka well as he heads back to his village in the western hill country. Turning his attention to the foreign incursion, T’Challa leads his warriors into battle to repel them. In the midst of an intense firefight, Taku informs T’Challa that the Avengers are requesting a sizable amount of vibranium to use against Ultron-6. After the necessary arrangements have been made, T’Challa returns to the battle, and the invaders are soon routed.
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<br />
<b>October 1964 –</b> Black Panther finds himself transported to the throne room of Kang the Conqueror at his fortress in the 41st century. Kang explains, one king to another, that he was challenged to a contest by a powerful alien called the Grandmaster. If Kang wins, his lover Ravonna, who hovers between life and death inside a nearby stasis tube, will be restored to full health. If Kang loses, though, the earth will be destroyed. As such, T’Challa agrees with Kang’s plan to bring the Avengers forward in time to serve as his champions. He is annoyed, though, when Kang lures the Avengers into his time-travel vortex by sending an android to kidnap Tony Stark from the hospital where he was about to undergo life-saving surgery. When explanations have been made, Captain America agrees on behalf of Yellowjacket, the Wasp, Goliath, the Vision, and Thor that they will cooperate for the sake of the planet, if not for Kang, on the condition that Kang return Stark to the hospital immediately. As Kang complies, the Grandmaster materializes in the room and teleports Captain America, Goliath, and Thor away for round one of their contest.
<br />
<br />Black Panther, Yellowjacket, Wasp, and Vision watch helplessly as the Grandmaster sets four super-villains of his own creation against Captain America, Goliath, Thor, and Iron Man, who materializes out of nowhere to join his teammates. On Liberty Island, Cap defeats Nighthawk. At the Taj Mahal, Iron Man defeats Doctor Spectrum. At the Giza Necropolis in Egypt, Thor defeats Hyperion. However, in London, England, Goliath only beats the Whizzer with the unexpected help of the Black Knight. The Grandmaster calls a foul, since the Black Knight is not a member of the Avengers, and recalls the four heroes to their base. Then, for round two of the contest, Black Panther, Yellowjacket, and Vision are transported to Nazi-occupied Paris, France, in February 1942, where they encounter the Invaders. Assuming the Avengers to be Nazis, the contemporary Captain America, Sub-Mariner, and Human Torch attack them. After a brief battle, Vision overcomes his three opponents by partially phasing through their bodies, thus disrupting their nervous systems. With victory achieved, Black Panther, Yellowjacket, and Vision are transported back to Kang’s 41st-century fortress. There, they rejoin Captain America, the Wasp, Goliath, Thor, and Iron Man, as well as the Black Knight, who has followed the Avengers to the future by his own means. Immediately, the heroes storm into Kang’s throne room and battle the time-traveling despot, to the Grandmaster’s great amusement. Once Kang is defeated, the Grandmaster teleports the Avengers home. Black Panther joins his teammates in extending a unanimous offer of membership to the Black Knight. He then drops the Black Knight off in England on his way back to Wakanda to finish up some affairs of state.
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<br />
T’Challa flies back to New York the following day to rejoin the Avengers. When he arrives at the mansion, he immediately rushes off to help a black woman being assaulted by the Sons of the Serpent, a hate group that’s been making headlines again recently. One of the attackers is accidentally shot dead by his compatriot, and the remaining two are electrocuted by remote control when they fail to overcome the Black Panther. When the police arrive on the scene, the woman identifies herself as Monica Lynne, then storms off after berating the cops for not showing up until after the danger was over. Black Panther makes a statement to the police before heading back to the mansion, leaving the cops to deal with the dead bodies.
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<br />
The next evening, a strange little man named Silas X. Cragg drops by Avengers Mansion looking for Captain America, whom he wants to invite to a charity benefit at the city orphanage. Yellowjacket phones Cap at the hotel where he’s staying and passes on the information. Later, the Avengers tune in to a late-night TV talk show hosted by notorious right-wing bigot Dan Dunn, who is arguing about civil rights with a controversial black agitator named Montague Hale. T’Challa is intrigued to see that Monica Lynne is also a guest on the program, and he learns that she is a popular local singer. Yellowjacket worries that the Sons of the Serpent may succeed in inciting a race war if something isn’t done. Black Panther insists on having 24 hours to try to resolve the situation on his own. He heads out and goes to Monica Lynne’s apartment building, where he waits for her to return from the TV studio. When she arrives, he implores her not to appear on a follow-up broadcast tomorrow, as he intends to take down the Sons of the Serpent. Black Panther then stalks the city until he finds some members of the hate group on the waterfront. He manages to infiltrate their group and thus gets a ride to their secret base submerged in the harbor. When they arrive, however, his deception is discovered and he is taken prisoner.
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<br />
Throughout the next day, T’Challa is kept in chains and forced to watch TV coverage of a Black Panther impostor going on a lawless rampage. He realizes the Sons of the Serpent are trying to use the image of a militant black superhero to frighten white people into supporting their cause. Eventually, Dan Dunn’s show comes on again, and T’Challa sees that Monica Lynne has disregarded his advice and agreed to appear. A heated exchange between Dunn and Montague Hale about the Black Panther’s vigilantism nearly becomes a fistfight. The Sons of the Serpent then transport the bound T’Challa to an abandoned TV studio, where they plan to unmask him during a pirate broadcast. However, T’Challa begins to figure out what’s really going on when he realizes there are two different men dressed in the uniform of the Supreme Serpent. Thus, when the Avengers come to the rescue, T’Challa exposes the Black Panther impostor as a white man and reveals that the two Supreme Serpents are none other than Dunn and Hale, who staged their animosity to cover their subversive activities. Monica is disgusted that Hale has betrayed the civil rights movement and decides to put the fight for equality above her singing career. Impressed, T’Challa vows to do all he can for the cause as well.
<br />
<br />
The following day, T’Challa is doing business at a Manhattan bank when it is robbed by a gang called the Split-Second Squad. He manages to slip away and change into the Black Panther, but the crooks incapacitate him with a sedative gas and escape. A couple days later, Black Panther joins Captain America, Goliath, and the Vision at a Brooklyn pier to see off Yellowjacket and the Wasp, who, along with their friend Bill Foster, are leaving to head up a government research project in Alaska. Once the ship has departed, the Avengers are suddenly accosted by Quicksilver, who tells them that the Scarlet Witch has been kidnapped by an extradimensional barbarian named Arkon, who has also kidnapped numerous nuclear physicists. Unable to breach the dimensional barrier on their own, the Avengers call in Thor and Iron Man for help. Using the power of Thor’s enchanted hammer, the Avengers travel to Arkon’s otherworldly realm of Polemachus and storm his fortress. When Arkon transports himself and the Scarlet Witch to Earth, Black Panther, Goliath, Vision, and Quicksilver pursue them while the older Avengers remain behind to free the kidnapped scientists and solve the energy crisis that prompted Arkon’s incursion in the first place. With no further need for hostilities, Arkon departs peacefully and the Avengers regroup back at their headquarters. Cap introduces the Black Panther and the Vision to Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, who say they are ready to rejoin the team.
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<br />
In the morning, the Avengers receive an urgent call for help from the Air Force’s Desert Base in New Mexico. Black Panther, Goliath, Vision, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch take a Quinjet and fly out west. When they arrive, they meet with General Thaddeus E. “Thunderbolt” Ross, who informs them that the Hulk is moving westward through the Mole Man’s system of tunnels and must be stopped before he reaches the San Andreas Fault. Immediately, they head northwest in an Air Force VTOL cargo jet, which carries a massive device called a gammatron bombarder, hoping to intercept the Hulk before he can trigger an earthquake. They begin setting up the machinery in a remote clearing in a forest in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Soon they detect the Hulk directly below them, and the Vision passes down through the ground by using his power to alter his body’s density. Moments later, Vision reappears with the Hulk in hot pursuit. The Avengers attack the green behemoth, trying to draw him between the two units of the gammatron bombarder. As soon as Goliath is able to lure the Hulk into position, Black Panther switches on the gamma radiation. Unfortunately, instead of changing back into Bruce Banner as planned, Hulk breaks free, destroys the device, and disappears into the distance before the astonished Avengers can react. Though they failed to capture the Hulk, the Avengers are satisfied that they prevented a major disaster. They return to Desert Base, pick up their Quinjet, and are soon back in New York.
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<br />
Two days later, T’Challa is at Avengers Mansion when they receive a visit from Tony Stark, who is fighting off a hostile takeover by an unscrupulous businessman named Cornelius Van Lunt. Stark explains that the Avengers must raise $120,000 in back rent on the mansion immediately to help keep Stark Industries afloat during the crisis. T’Challa apologizes for being unable to open Wakanda’s coffers for such a purpose and regrets that he will not be able to participate in the team’s fundraising efforts due to his job as a teacher. The next evening, though, T’Challa does agree to help the Scarlet Witch remove a metal belt that Arkon had locked around her waist. Though the extradimensional alloy proves to be a challenge to his technical skills, T’Challa finally manages to cut it off without injuring her. The Scarlet Witch then rushes off to promote the Avengers’ cause on a nationally televised talk show. Two days after that, Quicksilver informs T’Challa that Van Lunt has offered to drop his attempt to bankrupt Stark if the Avengers would perform certain menial labors for him. However, he suspects that their next job, repairing a condemned tunnel under the East River, may be a death-trap. T’Challa agrees to have the Avengers’ submarine standing by near the tunnel. Quicksilver’s suspicions are borne out when, seconds after the team sneaks out of the tunnel, a series of explosive charges causes it to collapse. The Avengers are now convinced that Van Lunt is the mastermind behind the Split-Second Squad, and sure enough, they find the crooks attempting to steal a shipment of gold bars. Though they make short work of the Split-Second Squad, the Avengers are startled to discover their hooded leader is not Van Lunt after all, but a revenge-minded employee of his seeking to frame the tycoon. Disgusted by the whole affair, the Avengers return home.
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<br />
After school, T’Challa stops in the Harlem office where Monica Lynne does her day job as a social worker. She’s tired and upset, and they argue. T’Challa then continues on to Avengers Mansion, where he is surprised to learn that Captain America was just attacked outside by the Man-Ape. He realizes N’Gamo must have healed M’Baku after he was seemingly crushed by the panther totem last month. Sure enough, M’Baku suddenly appears on their video monitor, revealing that he’s kidnapped Monica and challenging T’Challa to fight him. Over his teammates’ objections, Black Panther sets out alone and tracks his foe to a large vessel hovering low in the night sky above Manhattan. Since the ship is not of Wakandan design, T’Challa wonders where M’Baku could have obtained it. Upon boarding the ship, Black Panther is ambushed by the Man-Ape, whose superhuman strength seems even greater than before. Even so, T’Challa overcomes both M’Baku and N’Gamo, only to be caught off guard by an exploding mannequin disguised as Monica. When he regains consciousness, T’Challa finds he has been chained up and brought to an abandoned subway line, where he meets M’Baku’s new partners-in-crime: the Grim Reaper, the Swordsman, the Living Laser, and Power Man. This “Lethal Legion,” as they call themselves, then leaves T’Challa and Monica imprisoned overnight in a dark room.
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<br />
In the morning, T’Challa overhears the Lethal Legion plotting their multi-pronged attack on the Avengers. After the villains have left, a rather convenient power failure enables T’Challa to escape. He contacts the Avengers to warn them of their foes’ plans but uses the code “Prometheus Priority” to alert them that it’s probably an elaborate trap. His suspicions are confirmed when the Grim Reaper reappears, bragging that he wanted T’Challa to send the Avengers scrambling all over town so their forces would be divided. The villain then recaptures T’Challa by gassing him into unconsciousness. When he comes to, Black Panther finds himself with Captain America, Goliath, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch inside a giant hourglass filled with poison fumes. However, Vision arrives, disguised as Power Man, and tricks the Grim Reaper into smashing the glass and freeing them. The Lethal Legion proves no match for the combined might of the Avengers, and they are quickly apprehended. Unexpectedly, Vision announces that he is resigning from the Avengers, claiming that a synthetic man has no place among flesh-and-blood people. He departs immediately, leaving T’Challa perplexed by his sudden decision. The Avengers free Monica from a cell, and T’Challa escorts her home. He is relieved to learn later that the Vision had gone to Andrew Jackson High School first thing that morning to inform them that “Luke Charles” would be absent.
<br />
<br />
Over the next week, T’Challa becomes frustrated that the Avengers aren’t doing more to combat ordinary crime in New York City when they’re not dealing with costumed menaces. This leads to a discussion among the full team about the best way the Avengers can serve the greater good of society. T’Challa states his position, but Cap, Thor, Iron Man, and Quicksilver believe the team should focus on global threats like the international crime syndicate Zodiac. Vision has just returned hoping the team will help the Native American hero Red Wolf avenge the murder of his parents, for which he blames Cornelius Van Lunt, and Goliath and the Scarlet Witch side with them. Unable to reach a consensus, the Avengers decide to split their forces, and each faction goes its own way. A little over a day later, though, Zodiac seals the island of Manhattan behind an impenetrable force field and invades the city with an army of mercenaries, intent on holding it for ransom. Prowling the rooftops, Black Panther becomes worried when the syndicate’s leader, Aries, announces that Cap, Thor, Iron Man, and Quicksilver have been taken prisoner. To slow the mercenary army down, T’Challa sabotages a power station, causing a blackout. He then runs into Daredevil, and they team up to try to free the Avengers from the 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue, only to find the captive heroes have already been moved to Madison Square Garden to face public execution. There, Daredevil puts on some loud clothes and infiltrates the crowd in the arena, where he manages to use his billy club to sabotage the units keeping the four Avengers sedated. Once they’re free, the six heroes make short work of Zodiac’s forces, and as soon as the force field is disabled, the National Guard pours into the city to round up the mercenaries. When Aries makes a hasty retreat by aircraft, Thor pursues him. To stop Aries from turning his mysterious weapon, the Zodiac Key, on innocent bystanders, Thor summons down a lightning strike that blows up the villain’s ship, killing him and his henchmen. The Avengers and Daredevil then spend the rest of the day helping to repair some of the damage caused to Manhattan’s bridges and tunnels by the invasion. Comparing notes at Avengers Mansion later, the heroes are surprised to learn that the separate cases they had pursued were all, in fact, connected.
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<br />
Hearing rumors of a kidnapping plot involving Professor T.W. Erwin of Miskatonic University, who is also serving as the grand marshal of the 11th annual Rutland, Vermont Halloween Parade, Black Panther, Goliath, Vision, and Quicksilver head up to the small town to check it out. When they arrive, one of the parade’s organizers, Tom Fagan, asks them to ride on a special parade float. During the festivities, they spot Klaw, the Melter, the Radioactive Man, and Whirlwind attempting to grab Professor Erwin, and a destructive brawl breaks out. The Masters of Evil gain the upper hand, only for the Wasp, the Scarlet Witch, the Black Widow, and Medusa to arrive and turn the tables. However, as soon as they have defeated the villains, the super-heroines attack the male Avengers and knock them out as well. When he comes to, T’Challa finds himself and his male teammates tied up in Professor Erwin’s laboratory, where the elderly scientist is explaining his parallel-time projector to a warrior woman called the Valkyrie. However, the Valkyrie soon reveals herself to be Thor’s old enemy, the Enchantress, in disguise. She hopes to use the parallel-time projector to return to Asgard, from which she has been banished. When she learned the Masters of Evil also planned to steal the device, she explains, she used her sorcery to make the four super-heroines her pawns. Luckily, Scarlet Witch breaks free of the Enchantress’s spell and uses her mutant hex power to hurl the villainess into the parallel-time projector. There is a tremendous explosion, and when the smoke clears, the Avengers find nothing but a smoking crater in the floor. The other women are thus freed from the spells that ensorcelled them. Goliath’s snide remarks prompt the Scarlet Witch to complain that her male teammates could use a dose of feminist enlightenment. Unfortunately, the Masters of Evil have escaped, so the heroes return to New York, where the Wasp, the Black Widow, and Medusa go their separate ways. T’Challa is frustrated that Klaw has once again slipped through his fingers.
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<br />
<b>November 1964 –</b> While stalking the streets late on election night, Black Panther comes across a group of police officers searching for Daredevil. The newly elected district attorney, Franklin “Foggy” Nelson, recruits the Black Panther to help find the missing hero, who is suffering from blood-poisoning. T’Challa tracks Daredevil to the apartment of Nelson’s law partner, Matt Murdock, where he finds Murdock’s girlfriend Karen Page being held at gunpoint by a roboticist called Starr Saxon. Daredevil knocks Saxon out, then Nelson arrives with the police and a doctor who checks Daredevil over. Apparently, a gash on his hand has allowed Daredevil to bleed off the contaminated blood, saving his life. To T’Challa’s surprise, Daredevil declines to incriminate Saxon and hesitates when Saxon makes a break for it, allowing him to escape. Ignoring Nelson’s demands for an explanation, Daredevil goes after Saxon. Black Panther offers to help, but Daredevil asks him not to interfere. Concerned about Daredevil’s behavior, T’Challa decides to follow him discreetly. Observing a rooftop meeting of the two men, T’Challa learns that Saxon has discovered that Daredevil is Matt Murdock and is threatening to expose his secret identity. With no evidence to tie Saxon to the murder of mob boss “Biggie” Benson, Daredevil reluctantly lets him go. T’Challa notes that Daredevil seems very conflicted about the situation and decides not to confront him about it. Instead, he makes a surreptitious exit and goes home to watch the election returns. T’Challa is disappointed when Republican Senator Morris N. Richardson defeats President Lyndon B. Johnson after running a campaign laced with racial animus as well as inflammatory anti-mutant rhetoric. He worries that the tenor of public discourse in the United States seems to be turning uglier every day.
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<br />
A few days later, Matt Murdock is reported killed in an airplane crash, but when Daredevil continues to plague the criminal underworld, T’Challa realizes it must be a ruse to outmaneuver Saxon. Indeed, about a week later, Murdock turns up alive, whereupon Nelson claims that Murdock’s death was faked as part of a scheme to defeat the super-villain called Mister Fear. Nothing ever comes of Saxon’s threats. T’Challa wonders if Nelson is aware of Murdock’s dual identity.
<br />
<br />
Black Panther spots an intruder breaking into Avengers Mansion and attacks him from behind, only to discover that it’s Hercules, a former member of the team. Hercules is ready to fight, but Goliath, Vision, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch turn up and defuse the situation. Hercules then reports that an all-pervasive terror has been induced in him as a punishment by his angry father, Zeus. He is being pursued by a sinister entity known as the Huntsman, who is the instrument of his father’s wrath. The Avengers offer to help, but Hercules insists it’s too dangerous. Suddenly, the Huntsman appears and uses his magic staff to render the Avengers helpless. In a mad panic, Hercules smashes his way out of the mansion and disappears into the night as the Huntsman sets off after him.
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<br />
When Andrew Jackson High School closes for a four-day weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving, T’Challa decides to return to Wakanda to see how things are going there. N’Baza seems weak but insists he has everything under control. Even so, T’Challa faces mounting pressure to come home to stay. Chafing against the demands placed on him, T’Challa returns to New York to be ready to teach school on Monday morning.
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<br />
<b>December 1964 –</b> One evening, Black Panther is prowling the neighborhood near Andrew Jackson High School when he hears an argument on the playground. He finds one of his students, Lonnie Carver, and his older brother, Billy Carver, being pressured to join the Thunderbolts street gang. Unwilling to take no for an answer, the gang’s leader assaults Billy, who refuses to fight back, saying he’s had his fill of violence after serving in Vietnam. Impressed, Black Panther intervenes and drives off the gang. When the Black Panther complements Billy, he notices Lonnie’s eyes light up—he knows how excited the boy has been for his brother to come home from the war. Thus, it comes as a surprise about a week later when Lonnie’s attitude toward school takes a sudden turn for the worse. He loses interest in the course material and increasingly becomes a discipline problem. Concerned, T’Challa decides to keep an eye on Lonnie for the time being.
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<br />
When the Scarlet Witch has a dream about the Black Knight being killed by Arkon, Black Panther, Goliath, Vision, and Quicksilver decide to try to contact the Britain-based Avenger. They become concerned when they are unable to reach him and decide to investigate. Realizing they’ll need the power of Thor’s enchanted hammer to get to the extradimensional realm of Polemachus, T’Challa volunteers to go out and find the thunder god. He soon succeeds, but as they approach Avengers Mansion, the entire building suddenly vanishes. An image of the Enchantress appears in the sky and taunts Thor, so he uses his hammer to create a spacetime vortex that carries him and the Black Panther to Arkon’s capital city. As Thor launches a blistering attack on Arkon’s troops, Black Panther tracks down the rest of the Avengers and frees them from a dungeon. Hopelessly outnumbered, the Avengers are on the verge of defeat when the Enchantress loses her hold on the Black Knight while distracted by the Scarlet Witch. The Black Knight immediately switches sides, and the Enchantress, realizing the Avengers have turned the tide, teleports away to safety. When he sees that the sorceress has abandoned him, Arkon declares an end to the fighting. Thor then generates a spacetime vortex large enough to carry Avengers Mansion back to Earth, calling on Odin for assistance. However, while the Black Knight is returned to England and Thor and the Black Panther materialize with the mansion in New York, there is no sign of their other four teammates.
<br />
<br />
Before they can mount a search, Black Panther and Thor remember they are due to participate in a Toys-for-Tots program sponsored by the United States Marine Corps. For the next few hours, they join Captain America and Spider-Man in distributing toys to underprivileged children. Later, Thor uses the energies of his hammer to power an interdimensional scanner that Iron Man has brought over from Stark Industries to search for their missing teammates. After many hours, Goliath, Vision, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch are located and brought home. They relate how they had somehow been diverted to a parallel world, where they saved the earth alongside heroic versions of the Squadron Sinister called the Squadron Supreme. As the team heads upstairs for some refreshments, T’Challa receives an urgent call from Taku in Wakanda. Taku reports that N’Baza has died, leaving T’Challa stunned by the news. Realizing he may have to give up both his place in the Avengers and his teaching job, T’Challa joins his teammates in the mansion’s living room. He regales them with the tale of how he became the Black Panther and exposed B’Tumba’s treachery before announcing his bad news. T’Challa then goes out to be alone among the rooftops of the city to ponder his future. Once again, he realizes, the throne feels more like a prison than a privilege.
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<br />
Black Panther attends a meeting of the Avengers with Captain America, Goliath, Thor, Iron Man, the Vision, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch. Afterwards, Goliath, Thor, and Iron Man head to the Caribbean to protect an experimental weather-control station for the United Nations while T’Challa and the others make a television appearance for charity. When the trio returns, they report that they battled the Hulk, the Silver Surfer, and the Sub-Mariner until some Atlantean scientists convinced them the project needed to be shut down. The Avengers then hold their third annual Christmas charity benefit, at which Cap introduces his new partner, the Falcon, to his teammates. T’Challa admits to a bit of jealousy toward the Falcon, as his students in Harlem seem to be bigger fans of their homegrown hero than they are of the Black Panther. The two men hit it off and enjoy discussing their different approaches to the issues facing the Harlem community. Then, over the next week, T’Challa begins making arrangements to return to Wakanda, planning to leave New York by the middle of January.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Notes:</b>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>March 1964 –</b> The Black Panther teams up with the Inhumans and half the Fantastic Four to battle the microscopic menace of Psycho-Man in <i>Fantastic Four Annual</i> #5. The shockwave that ended T’Challa’s fight with the illusory panther-monster was generated by Gorgon stamping his hooves.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>April 1964 –</b> Black Panther and Captain America join forces against the phony Baron Zemo in <i>Tales of Suspense</i> #97–99 and <i>Captain America</i> #100. The title change occurred due to favorable business conditions that allowed Marvel to move away from double-feature books. The story also weaves in and out of <i>Avengers</i> #51, which occurs simultaneously. T’Challa is then inducted into the Avengers and appears in <i>Avengers</i> #52 and following. T’Challa credits himself as one of the world’s richest men, so it seems unlikely to me that he would room at Avengers Mansion and eat Jarvis’s cooking when he could have his own place, though the evidence is inconclusive. The Wasp’s chauffeur, “Charles Matthews,” is secretly the super-villain Whirlwind.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>May 1964 –</b> The Avengers’ assault on Magneto’s island fortress detours briefly into <i>Uncanny X-Men</i> #45.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>July 1964 –</b> The Fourth-of-July picnic at Avengers Mansion occurs behind the scenes and is suggested by the date. Due to the machinations of the Scarlet Centurion, the Avengers do not travel back into their own past but into the parallel universe now known as Earth-689, which, incidentally, is the same world depicted in <i>Avengers Annual</i> #2 and <i>What If?</i> #4. However, Captain America does not remember the events of that night clearly enough (partly from the trauma itself and partly because of his post-cryogenic amnesia) to realize it, despite there being significant differences in how the events played out. The most important difference is that the Captain America of Earth-689 is killed by the same explosion that kills Bucky. The Avengers then travel to the 1964 of Earth-689 in <i>Avengers Annual</i> #2, where they battle the Scarlet Centurion and their own counterparts. As the Avengers finally return to their own reality, though, the Watcher erases their memories of this adventure, since the Scarlet Centurion, Pharaoh Rama-Tut, Kang the Conqueror, and Immortus are all the same person. Later, the Black Panther looks on as Jarvis meets the Vision in one of the many flashbacks in <i>Avengers</i> #280.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>September 1964 –</b> Captain America’s premature funeral is held in <i>Captain America</i> #113. The battle in Drearcliff Cemetery continues in the flashback in <i>Avengers</i> #106. In addition to M’Baku and N’Gamo, <i>Avengers</i> #62 also introduces T’Challa’s ally W’Kabi. The white gorillas of the Wakandan highlands must have been mutated by vibranium exposure, just like the heart-shaped herb that gives the Black Panther his powers, so that by consuming their flesh and blood M’Baku gains superhuman strength. This is doubtless why the cult of the white gorilla has long been suppressed. Black Panther has a cameo in <i>Sub-Mariner</i> #14 in a montage of heroes listening to Egghead’s broadcast, then appears briefly at the beginning of <i>Captain America</i> #114, when the Avengers talk about Cap behind his back. T’Challa’s meeting with N’Jadaka, who will return in a few years as Erik Killmonger, is depicted in flashbacks in <i>Jungle Action</i> #7 and #16. T’Challa is unaware that Killmonger’s snake-loving henchman Horatio Walters, a.k.a. Venomm, has stowed away aboard the Quinjet and is thereby smuggled into Wakanda. The nature and intent of the foreign incursion seen in <i>Avengers</i> #68 is not clearly explained in the story, but this scenario makes the most sense to me. This is also the issue that introduces Taku.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>October 1964 –</b> The Invaders’ battle with the Black Panther, Yellowjacket, and the Vision is revisited, with a few extra details added, in <i>Invaders Annual</i> #1. Silas X. Cragg drops by Avengers Mansion in <i>Captain America</i> #121. The Avengers attempt to capture the Hulk in <i>Hulk</i> #128. T’Challa helps the Scarlet Witch with her metal belt behind the scenes during <i>Avengers</i> #77. For more information, see <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2005/04/omu-scarlet-witch-part-three.html">OMU: Scarlet Witch – Part Three</a>. When the Black Panther and Daredevil team up against the forces of Zodiac, T’Challa has not yet learned the Man Without Fear’s secret identity, so they probably meet on the rooftops of the city after the Black Panther has caused the blackout to slow the invasion down. Also, though they mention battling the Thunderbolts gang, that doesn’t actually happen until next January.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>November 1964 –</b> Black Panther guest-stars in <i>Daredevil</i> #52. Yellowjacket’s appearance in this issue is an error, as he’s off in Alaska. T’Challa was probably actually speaking with the Vision. Daredevil’s scheme to prevent Starr Saxon from exposing his secret identity plays out over the next couple of issues. The presidential election occurs behind the scenes. For more on Morris N. Richardson, see <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2005/02/omu-potus-part-three.html">OMU: POTUS – Part Three</a>. Hercules returns to the mansion briefly in a bizarre little story published in <i>Ka-Zar Quarterly</i> #1. I assume T’Challa went home to Wakanda over the Thanksgiving break since he was not present in that flashback in <i>Avengers</i> #280.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>December 1964 –</b> The Carver brothers come to T’Challa’s attention in the flashback in <i>Daredevil</i> #69. He is unaware that meeting the Black Panther inspires Billy Carver to secretly contact District Attorney Nelson and volunteer to infiltrate the Thunderbolts gang, which triggers the change in Lonnie’s attitude. T’Challa’s reminiscences about his origins following news of N’Baza’s death bring us up to <i>Avengers</i> #87. The Black Panther then has a brief cameo in <i>Sub-Mariner</i> #35. The Avengers’ Christmas party—and the Black Panther’s first meeting with the Falcon—occurs behind the scenes. T’Challa’s students expressed their preference for the Falcon back in <i>Avengers</i> #77.
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<i><b>Jump Back:</b> <a href="https://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2019/04/omu-black-panther-year-one.html">The Black Panther – Year One</a></i>
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<i><b>Next Issue:</b> <a href="https://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2019/08/omu-black-panther-year-three.html">The Black Panther – Year Three</a></i>
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<br /></p>Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-10536350322869094572019-04-28T10:13:00.004-05:002023-12-11T09:25:31.069-06:00OMU: Black Panther -- Year One<b>The Black Panther</b> is credited as being the first black superhero, certainly the first from a major comic book publisher, and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby at the peak of their landmark run on <i>Fantastic Four</i> in 1966. As he was initially intended as a supporting character, information about T’Challa’s background and history emerged slowly, with major elements of his origin story not being revealed until five years later. Little was seen of his kingdom of Wakanda at first, and we met few other Wakandan characters until the Black Panther finally received a solo feature in 1973. Still, he paved the way for a long line of black heroes and heroines to follow.
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<b>Note:</b> The following timeline depicts the <b>Original Marvel Universe</b> (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2004/12/the-original-marvel-universe.html">previous posts</a> for a detailed explanation of my rationale). Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
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Now on the prowl with… <b>The True History of the Black Panther!</b>
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<b>June 1963 – T’Challa</b>, heir to the throne of the small African nation of Wakanda, graduates from a university in the United States, where he has been pursuing an advanced degree under the pseudonym “Luke Charles.” Along with his constant companion, a cousin named B’Tumba, T’Challa then returns to Wakanda, which has been ruled in his stead by a regent, his uncle N’Baza. T’Challa has long harbored suspicions that N’Baza means to keep the throne for himself and has been scheming to get rid of T’Challa ever since he left the country to attend college following the death of his father, King T’Chaka. However, since B’Tumba is N’Baza’s son, T’Challa has kept his suspicions to himself.
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Arriving outside the royal palace in Wakanda’s central village, T’Challa and B’Tumba are greeted by N’Baza with much pomp and circumstance. N’Baza announces that T’Challa must face two final challenges before becoming king, the first of which is the traditional ritual combat. For the match, N’Baza dons the sacred garb of the Black Panther, and T’Challa likewise wears a ritual mask. As numerous drummers beat out a martial rhythm, T’Challa and N’Baza each best a number of challengers before facing off in single combat. To the amazement of the crowd, T’Challa quickly defeats N’Baza and claims the title of Black Panther. When T’Challa removes his mask, the Wakandans cheer his victory, thrilled that the son of King T’Chaka has passed the first test.
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After passing a night of vigil in the temple of the Panther God, T’Challa is ready to face the second challenge, which is to climb the mountain where the mysterious heart-shaped herb grows. When ingested, the herb will imbue him with the powers of the Panther God and thereby grant him the divine right to rule Wakanda. Retrieving the sacred garb of the Black Panther from the base of a large panther totem, T’Challa puts it on and heads out into the jungle alone. Having learned that B’Tumba was sent away during the night, T’Challa assumes that N’Baza is planning some treachery and wants the prince to be without his greatest ally. Fighting off various wild animals as he goes, T’Challa crosses the jungle and makes the dangerous ascent to find the heart-shaped herb. Once he has consumed it, he feels his strength and agility rapidly increasing and realizes he has truly become the <b>Black Panther</b> at last.
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Hearing foreign voices nearby, T’Challa goes to investigate and discovers a small refinery containing highly advanced technology. It is staffed by men in strange yellow “beekeeper” uniforms who reveal themselves to be agents of an organization called Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.), though T’Challa has never heard of it. Still, it is clear they are attempting to steal a supply of vibranium, the extraterrestrial ore that is the kingdom’s most fiercely guarded secret—a crime they could not commit without the help of a Wakandan traitor. Enraged, the Black Panther attacks them, only to be defeated by a sonic cannon. He is then marched at gunpoint into the refinery, convinced that N’Baza has betrayed their people. However, T’Challa quickly learns that it is B’Tumba who has sold the secret of vibranium, having been recruited into A.I.M. when they were both in college. Tired of living in T’Challa’s shadow, B’Tumba now seeks to seize the throne for himself. Luckily, when the moment comes to murder his childhood friend, B’Tumba is unable to bring himself to do it. Instead, he frees T’Challa, intent on making A.I.M. pay for turning his youthful jealousy into mad ambition and base treachery. In the ensuing battle, the Black Panther defeats all the A.I.M. agents, but B’Tumba is mortally wounded. Dying, he declares that N’Baza was always loyal and begs T’Challa not to tell his father of his treason. Feeling ashamed of himself for suspecting N’Baza for so long, T’Challa finds it in his heart to forgive B’Tumba. The A.I.M. agents are then taken into custody to face Wakandan justice and the stolen vibranium is recovered.
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Settling into his reign, T’Challa gets to know some of his royal advisors, such as N’Gassi, Taku, and Zatama. He also strikes up a friendship with W’Kabi, captain of the palace guard. The royal physician Mendinao administers the extracts of the heart-shaped herb that maintain T’Challa’s panther-powers and becomes a trusted friend. T’Challa is also reunited with his estranged half-brother Jakarra, who is an officer in the military serving under Wakanda’s foremost warrior, M’Baku. T’Challa’s other cousins, Khanata, Ishanta, Zuni, and Joshua Itobo, are busy with their own affairs and have little interest in royal matters. The new king immediately orders construction begun on a modern hospital facility near the palace and introduces other modernization initiatives, some of which are considered controversial.
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<b>July 1963 –</b> T’Challa begins building what he refers to as a “technological jungle” in the vicinity of the royal palace, a complex of fantastic machinery of his own design. He becomes concerned late in the month when the entire sky is suddenly engulfed in flames. Though his people are terrified, T’Challa determines that the fire poses no immediate danger. When the flames vanish as mysteriously as they appeared, T’Challa suspects they may have been illusory. Other strange aerial phenomena appear in the following days, but T’Challa’s sensor scans remain inconclusive.
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<b>August 1963 –</b> T’Challa continues to monitor the situation as a curtain of space debris circles the globe for a few days, darkening the skies with asteroids. The phenomenon ends abruptly when a gigantic alien appears in New York City and is driven off by the Fantastic Four. T’Challa is very impressed with the heroic quartet, realizing that they have just averted a global apocalypse.
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<b>October 1963 –</b> Learning from intelligence reports that the unscrupulous Dutch scientist Ulysses Klaw is planning to make a second attempt to invade Wakanda and steal its vibranium, T’Challa remembers the disastrous events of ten years before. His father, King T’Chaka, had only just initiated him into the secrets of the sacred vibranium mound when Klaw and his army of mercenaries crossed their borders. T’Chaka led a party of warriors out to halt the invaders’ advance, only to be cut down by machine guns. Hearing the gunfire, T’Challa, then a scrawny lad of 16, slipped out of the main village as Klaw’s men stormed in and made his way to where his father’s body lay. Swearing vengeance, T’Challa ambushed a mercenary carrying a strange weapon and turned it on the invaders, discovering that it unleashed devastating sonic blasts. With their machine guns shattering under the sonic barrage, Klaw’s men fled, though they had already put the village to the torch. When Klaw tried to disarm the young prince, T’Challa fired the weapon at him, shattering his foe’s pistol and his right hand with it. Even so, before retreating into the jungle, Klaw vowed to one day return and seize control of the vibranium mound to power even more deadly sonic weapons. Now that that day has finally come, T’Challa decides to test his mettle against none other than the Fantastic Four.
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Thus, he sends an emissary to deliver a specially-designed aero-car to the team’s Baxter Building headquarters in New York City. The emissary soon reports back that the Fantastic Four were duly impressed and have accepted the invitation to Wakanda. When the aero-car returns with the team aboard, T’Challa guides it to a gentle landing inside his technological jungle. He notes that the Fantastic Four have brought along a friend, college student Wyatt Wingfoot, but thinks it unlikely to upset his plans. Dressed in his sacred garb, the Black Panther then pits himself against Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Girl, the Human Torch, and the Thing. He is relieved to see Wingfoot fleeing the scene, not wanting any harm to come to the youth. The Black Panther quickly incapacitates the Human Torch and the Invisible Girl, then tricks the Thing into refreshing himself with a special fluid that saps his great strength. Leaving the Thing stunned by a blast from a cryogenic device, the Black Panther shuts off the lights for his duel with Mister Fantastic. No sooner has he captured his last opponent, though, than the Black Panther is attacked by the Human Torch again. T’Challa realizes that Wingfoot, whom he dismissed as a threat, has helped the Fantastic Four get free and regroup. Impressed, T’Challa unmasks and introduces himself to his guests, inviting them to an elaborate feast in the royal palace.
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Following the banquet, T’Challa explains to his guests about the nature of vibranium and Klaw’s plans to steal it. Mister Fantastic immediately grasps the implications of such a substance falling into the wrong hands, but the Thing merely grumbles about everything, clearly annoyed at having been brought to the country under false pretenses. Suddenly, an alarm sounds, indicating that Klaw has made his move. Learning that a defensive outpost has been destroyed, the Fantastic Four race off to investigate, only to be attacked by giant animal constructs made of solid sound. Realizing that Klaw would need a large complex of machinery to create such monsters, T’Challa decides to check out Wakanda’s largest cave system. Sure enough, the Black Panther discovers Klaw’s secret lair and confronts the villain. Klaw reveals that he now wears a sonic weapon as a prosthesis over his crippled right hand and uses it to keep the Black Panther at bay. Activating his massive sonic converter, Klaw creates a gigantic panther construct and unleashes it on T’Challa, but the king is able to outfight it with his superhuman strength and agility. Frustrated, Klaw diverts all power to the weapon on his arm, but the Black Panther causes the master control panel to overload, starting a chain reaction of explosions. Leaving Klaw trapped, the Black Panther races from the caverns as the entire hill is blown to bits by the unharnessed sonic energy. Watching the cave system collapse under tons of rubble, T’Challa is satisfied that his father’s murder has at last been avenged.
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After the Fantastic Four treat the Wakandans to an exhibition of baseball, T’Challa hosts a relaxing dinner at the palace, where they are entertained by a world-renowned concert pianist. The young king also showers his guests with all manner of fabulous gifts, from the latest Paris fashions to high-tech exercise equipment. Noticing that the Human Torch has been brooding about something all day, T’Challa asks if there’s anything he can do to help. The Torch explains that his girlfriend Crystal and her people, the Inhumans, are trapped in their hidden refuge in the Himalayas by an impenetrable force field. He means to return to the site to make another attempt to free them, and when Wyatt Wingfoot volunteers to accompany the Torch on his quest, T’Challa offers them his Gyro-Cruiser, a vehicle of fantastic design. Shocked by such incredible generosity, the two young men board the Gyro-Cruiser and set off on their journey, heading north towards the Sahara Desert. Soon after, Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Girl, and the Thing take the aero-car and fly it back to New York City. Gratified to have made such wonderful friends and allies, T’Challa turns his attention back to affairs of state.
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Not long after, T’Challa receives a desperate radio message from Mister Fantastic, who reveals that Klaw escaped from the cave-in, apparently by converting himself into a being composed of solid sound, and has attacked the Baxter Building. He requests that a pair of “vibranium knuckles” be sent at once, so T’Challa has the items delivered to Mister Fantastic in a matter of minutes using a high-speed mini-missile. Shortly, Mister Fantastic contacts T’Challa again to report that Klaw has been captured and the Thing has crushed his sonic weapon. T’Challa agrees to construct a special vibranium holding cell and have it shipped to New York as soon as possible, as it seems unlikely that an ordinary jail could hold Klaw for long in his new form.
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<b>November 1963 –</b> When the notorious super-villain Doctor Doom gains cosmic powers and goes on a worldwide rampage, T’Challa sends the Fantastic Four his fastest aircraft. He then contacts them en route to Doom’s kingdom of Latveria and advises them on the ship’s capabilities. Unfortunately, Doom utterly destroys the ship as soon as it reaches him. Luckily, as T’Challa learns afterwards, the Fantastic Four were able to bail out and defeat Doctor Doom despite his new powers, which were then stripped from him. T’Challa knows that, once again, Wakanda—and, indeed, the world—owes its survival to his friends, the Fantastic Four. This starts him thinking that there must be a way for the Black Panther to be of greater service to humanity than merely reigning over a small, isolated kingdom. He decides to watch for the next few months to see if such an opportunity presents itself.
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<b>Notes:</b>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>June 1963 –</b> We get a couple glimpses of T’Challa during his college days in flashbacks in <i>Avengers</i> #77 and #87. The latter issue also features extended flashbacks of T’Challa’s return to Wakanda with B’Tumba and his discovery that his old friend is an agent of A.I.M. This occurs several months before the world discovers that A.I.M. is a subversive organization in <i>Strange Tales</i> #149. The ritual combat with N’Baza, who is dressed as the Black Panther, is depicted in a flashback in <i>Black Panther</i> #8. The other Wakandans will be introduced in subsequent stories. The Panther God worshiped in Wakanda is a composite figure of the goddess Bast and her son Mahes, descendants of the primal god Thoth and therefore members of the Egyptian pantheon.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>July–August 1963 –</b> The strange aerial phenomena are created by the Watcher in an attempt to hide Earth from Galactus, as seen in <i>Fantastic Four</i> #48–50.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>October 1963 –</b> The Black Panther is introduced in <i>Fantastic Four</i> #52–54 when he draws the team into his conflict with Ulysses Klaw. Mister Fantastic then contacts T’Challa to request help against Klaw in <i>Fantastic Four</i> #56.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>November 1963 –</b> T’Challa again lends aid to the Fantastic Four when Doctor Doom steals the Silver Surfer’s cosmic powers in <i>Fantastic Four</i> #60. It is shortly after this that T’Challa would have learned of the assassination of American president John F. Kennedy, which satisfies my initial research question as far as the Black Panther is concerned.</span>
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<b>OMU Note:</b> The final canonical appearance of the Black Panther was in <i>Avengers</i> #339.
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<i><b>Next Issue:</b> <a href="https://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2019/06/omu-black-panther-year-two.html">The Black Panther – Year Two</a></i>
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<br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-22760944999141348562019-03-28T10:13:00.016-05:002023-10-31T12:11:52.563-05:00OMU: Captain America -- Year Five<b>Captain America</b> reaches a turning point during the next twelve months of his life, when everything he believes in is suddenly called into question. Up to that fateful moment, he’s having a pretty good year for a superhero, actively involved with the Avengers and maintaining his crime-fighting partnership with the Falcon despite the racially charged atmosphere. Then everything goes off the rails at the climax of the epic storyline that Steve Englehart and Sal Buscema concocted as a response to the infamous Watergate scandal. The resolution of the story, clearly a bit of dark wish-fulfillment on the part of the creators, sets up the extended dissection of Steve Rogers’ character that will follow.
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<b>Note:</b> The following timeline depicts the <b>Original Marvel Universe</b> (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2004/12/the-original-marvel-universe.html">previous posts</a> for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
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Continuing on with... <b>The True History of Captain America!</b>
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<b>January 1966 –</b> On the first day of the year, Captain America is at Avengers Mansion with Thor and Iron Man. They discuss news reports of an upcoming grudge match at Shea Stadium between the Thing and a mystery woman called Thundra. Having heard that Thundra kidnapped the Thing’s girlfriend, Alicia Masters, last night as the Fantastic Four watched helplessly, Cap wonders if the Thing will be able to win the fight. Three days later, the match ends inconclusively when the Thing unexpectedly reverts to his human form. Alicia is released unharmed shortly afterwards, and the public considers the much-hyped “battle of the sexes” to be rather anticlimactic.
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Several days later, Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, and the Vision look on as Iron Man spars with the Black Panther in the Avengers’ combat-simulation room. Suddenly, Thor enters and summons the Scarlet Witch to the communications room, promising her tidings of great joy. The Avengers are pleased to find Quicksilver calling from the Great Refuge of the Inhumans. Standing next to him on the large viewscreen is Crystal, the Human Torch’s ex-girlfriend and a member of the Inhumans’ royal family. Scarlet Witch is visibly relieved to learn that her twin brother is alive and well and is thrilled to hear that Quicksilver and Crystal have fallen in love after she saved him from the Sentinels’ Australian base last October. However, when the Scarlet Witch declares that she, too, has fallen in love—with the Vision—Quicksilver objects angrily, leading to an argument that makes the rest of the Avengers rather uncomfortable. After Quicksilver hangs up on her, Scarlet Witch starts to cry and the Vision moves in to comfort her. Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and Black Panther move to the other end of the room to give the couple some space. Iron Man feels the team may be a bit shorthanded now that they’ve lost both Quicksilver and Hawkeye, but Thor dismisses his concerns. The discussion is cut short when the team receives a transmission from the X-Men’s secret headquarters, which has been trashed in a battle. The mutants’ leader, Professor X, speaks defiantly to the villain who is filming him, but then the screen goes dark. The Avengers agree to seek out the X-Men’s mansion and do what they can to help their fellow superheroes.
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When they arrive at the secluded estate in Westchester County, the Avengers quickly discover Professor X, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, and Iceman in the wreckage, all of whom appear to be comatose. Iron Man carries out a winged man they assume to be the Angel, only to face four rampaging dinosaurs that are under the control of a sort of Pied Piper figure who emerges from the woods. After defeating the dinosaurs, the Avengers try to capture the Piper but are stopped by Magneto, who is wearing the Angel’s black-and-white costume and laughing about how he fooled Iron Man with a pair of false wings. Announcing that he is abducting the X-Men, Magneto grabs the Scarlet Witch and uses his powers to send Iron Man crashing into Captain America, knocking them both out. When he regains consciousness later in the villain’s lair, Cap realizes Magneto has him and the others under some form of magnetically induced mind control. Fortunately, however, Thor, the Black Panther, and the Vision seem to have escaped capture, and Cap remains confident that they will soon come to the rescue. Nevertheless, Cap is unable to resist when Magneto orders his new slaves aboard the stolen Quinjet and then flies them to another remote mansion where a meeting of the Atomic Energy Commission is being held. After easily defeating the Secret Service agents on the scene, the entranced heroes march the commissioners to the Quinjet. Thor, Black Panther, and Vision charge in, accompanied by the Black Widow and Daredevil, but they fail to prevent Magneto from kidnapping the commissioners. Thor pursues Magneto’s airship but is forced to disengage when Iron Man dangles Cap out of the hatch. Cap is frustrated at being used like a puppet, but try as he might, he cannot break free of Magneto’s control.
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In his subterranean headquarters, Magneto rants and raves to the commissioners about his plan to inundate the world with radiation, thereby killing off 92% of the human race and turning the few survivors into mutants that he can rule. As the villain concentrates on taking over the minds of the commissioners, Cap is relieved when Thor, the Black Panther, the Black Widow, and Daredevil come crashing into the installation, though he and his fellow captives are forced to attack them. Magneto merely seems to find the battle amusing, and when he easily brings the Black Widow under his control, Cap gets worried. However, the Piper calmly walks up behind Magneto and knocks him out with a karate chop to the back of the neck. To Cap’s surprise, the Vision then phases out of the Piper’s body, explaining that he used his ability to alter his density to effect his own form of mind control. Professor X then places Magneto into a telepathically induced coma, freeing Cap and the others from the villain’s mental domination. The Professor is concerned when Iron Man notes that they found no trace of the Angel in the wrecked mansion, as his disappearance remains unexplained. The X-Men then take the unconscious Magneto and Piper back to their nearby headquarters. Captain America conveys the Avengers’ thanks to Daredevil and the Black Widow and offers them full membership on the team. Daredevil declines but the Black Widow accepts, causing a rift between them. Daredevil leaves in a huff, and later the Black Panther arranges for a Quinjet to take him back to San Francisco.
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Soon after, a mob of African-American militants pounds on the front door of Avengers Mansion, demanding that the Black Panther come outside. Before the Avengers can react, the mob breaks down the door and opens fire with rifles. Cap deflects the bullets with his shield as Iron Man and the Scarlet Witch drive the mob back, but they continue to chant that the Black Panther must return to Africa, where his people need him. As the situation escalates, a man in a trenchcoat emerges from the crowd and forces the Black Panther to worship him. The man suddenly transforms into a gigantic armored demon who calls himself the “Lion God,” then teleports away with the Black Panther, leaving the mob disoriented and confused. As the crowd disperses, the frustrated Avengers realize the people had been entranced by the Lion God just as the Black Panther was. As the other Avengers head to their conference room for a strategy session, Cap leaves to consult with S.H.I.E.L.D. as to the identity of the kidnapper. Unfortunately, the spy agency is not able to shed any light on the matter. Later, Cap returns to Avengers Mansion and learns that the Lion God attacked his teammates shortly after he left, but Thor apparently disintegrated him with a lightning bolt. Black Widow also tells Cap that she’s decided to return to San Francisco to work with Daredevil, preferring their partnership to being a member of a large group.
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Captain America and the Falcon finally capture the last remnants of the Cowled Commander’s crime syndicate. But when Cap’s newfound super-strength makes him feel like a fifth wheel, Falcon storms off in a rage. However, Cap is distracted by reports of a super-villain terrorizing the New York Stock Exchange. He races to the scene and finds a man calling himself “Solarr” killing bystanders with heat rays from his body. During the ensuing fight, Cap realizes that Solarr needs to be in direct sunlight for his powers to work effectively. Thus, Cap quickly defeats him by dumping a gallon of all-weather exterior paint on his head and turns him over to the police. Spotting the Falcon swinging away from the scene on his grappling hook, Cap sets off after him, hoping to salvage their partnership. Unfortunately, the Falcon gives him the slip, and so, after a night of fruitless searching, Cap stops at Sharon Carter’s apartment. He feels bad that they have not reconciled since their spat late last month and decides to make amends. However, all he finds is a note from Sharon saying she will never see him again. Shocked, Cap returns to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and demands to know if they have any information as to her whereabouts. Nick Fury merely reminds him that Sharon resigned from the agency a few months ago. Frustrated, Cap heads back to Harlem, where he happens upon the Falcon and his girlfriend, Leila Taylor, being harassed by a street gang. Cap decides to hang back and let the Falcon deal with the situation on his own. After the Falcon has knocked out all the gang members, Cap offers his congratulations and patches things up with his partner, over Leila’s objections. Learning of Sharon’s abrupt disappearance, Falcon agrees to help search for her. By evening, they have determined that Sharon rented a car for a one-way trip to Connecticut and head up there to find her. En route, they are ambushed by a gang of armed mercenaries and beaten into unconsciousness.
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When he comes to at dawn, Cap is surprised to find himself apparently in a bombed-out Parisian street, with the Falcon and Sharon nearby, both dressed in World War II era clothing. They are attacked by men in Gestapo uniforms, and during the battle Cap and Sharon kiss and make up. When one of their foes starts yelling in an obviously fake German accent, Cap realizes they’re fighting the same men who ambushed them on the highway. Suddenly, the conflict is interrupted by a woman’s blood-curdling scream, though Cap can’t see where it came from. He charges for the nearest building, only to be knocked out again by energy beams from a hidden source. He, Sharon, and Falcon wake up later in a dungeon, where they are menaced by illusions, but they quickly break out and sneak through the darkened corridors of the building above. In a locked room they discover Sharon’s elderly parents, Harrison and Amanda Carter, who reveal that they were imprisoned by Doctor Faustus, confirming Cap’s suspicions. The Carters explain that Doctor Faustus lured them there by promising to cure their daughter of her mental disorder. Cap, naturally, assumes they mean Sharon, but she clarifies that they’re actually talking about her older sister, Peggy Carter—the woman Cap fell in love with during the liberation of Paris in 1944. Cap is thunderstruck by this revelation.
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Sharon relates how Peggy was suffering from amnesia when she finally made it home from France after the war ended but still called out for Captain America in her sleep. Eventually, her memory began to return, but then she was devastated by reports that Cap had been killed in action. She started dressing in black and wearing a veil over her face as a sign of mourning. After being further traumatized by news of another man posing as Captain America in the late ’40s, Peggy retreated into a fugue state. Thus, on the advice of Peggy’s doctors, the family concealed from her the career of the impostor Captain America of the mid-1950s, and since he had been exposed as a fraud and sent to prison, they decided not to risk telling her of Cap’s return a little over three years ago. Having become a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, though, Sharon set out to meet this “new” Captain America to find out more about him, only to fall in love with him in spite of herself. Feeling she had betrayed her sister, Sharon explains, she felt conflicted and often tried to distance herself from Cap, even though she believed Peggy would never know of their love affair. But when her parents told her a new doctor had promised to cure Peggy, Sharon felt she had no choice but to break off their relationship once and for all. His mind churning with conflicting emotions, Cap races outside and scales the tower where Peggy is being held, entering her dimly lit room through the window. He finds her sitting quietly by the fireplace and approaches, calling her name. He gently lifts the veil from her face, and Peggy, having emerged from her near-catatonic state, recognizes him with tears welling in her eyes. Cap recognizes her as well, even though she’s now 40 years old, thin, and pale. Calling her by her old code name, “Mademoiselle,” the only name he’s ever known her by, Cap kisses her tenderly on the cheek.
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Their reunion is interrupted when the gang of mercenaries comes charging up the stairs. Cap attacks them with his super-strength as they’re about to enter the room. When the henchmen have been defeated, Doctor Faustus appears and zaps Cap with the same directed-energy weapon he used against him earlier, but Peggy throws a heavy candlestick at Faustus and hits him in the face. The villain’s flunky charges up the stairs brandishing a knife, but Peggy drops him as well with a karate chop to the neck. Cap is impressed, then beats Faustus into unconsciousness and locks him and all his accomplices in one of the facility’s padded cells to await the police. Cap then leads Peggy to a reunion with her family in a nearby sitting room. Despite his criminal methods, Doctor Faustus has succeeded in bringing Peggy out of her fugue state, but the Carters are grateful to Cap for freeing her (and them) from the villain’s clutches. Peggy asks if Cap and the Falcon would be willing to stay with her for a little while, to help reintroduce her to the modern world, and the two superheroes say they would be glad to. Thus, Cap and Falcon accompany the Carters back to their large estate in Virginia. When they arrive, Cap and Peggy go for a walk, and he tells her of how he spent 18 years after his disappearance frozen in ice until being revived by a team of modern-day superheroes called the Avengers, of which he is currently a member. He feels somewhat awkward, as he and Sharon have not yet told Peggy of their relationship, but before he can decide how to broach the subject, Peggy is taken aback by her reflection in a pond, saying she keeps forgetting that she’s now some 20 years older than her mental image of herself. They then come upon one of the Carters’ neighbors, Dave Cox, whose right arm has been amputated. Cox explains that he lost his arm fighting in Vietnam, where he was held as a P.O.W. until recently. The experience, he adds, has led him to become a strict pacifist. Cap is sympathetic but notes that Peggy seems put off by Cox’s attitudes.
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The following day, Cap and Falcon tell Peggy about the conflict in Vietnam, the overarching Cold War with the Soviet Union, and the ongoing Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Peggy seems genuinely pleased to learn that black people have made progress toward equality, to the Falcon’s relief. Even so, he decides to head back to Harlem to spend time with Leila. However, he changes his mind when the Cobra, the Eel, and the Viper suddenly crash through a bay window and attack them. The battle wrecks the Carters’ living room, and Cap’s hands are badly burned when he tries to grab the Eel’s electrified costume. Nevertheless, the three men decide to retreat when Sharon comes charging into the room, knowing she’s a highly trained S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. After putting out the couch-fire their foes started to cover their escape, Falcon goes out to search for them. Meanwhile, Peggy treats Cap’s burns and fusses over him, clearly making Sharon uncomfortable. She and Cap agree, though, not to say anything that might jeopardize Peggy’s mental state. Falcon returns late in the evening, and he and Cap agree that their foes are likely to strike again.
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In the morning, Cap goes out to help the Falcon resume the search for the villainous trio but quickly realizes his partner has taken it as a lack of faith in his abilities. Cap assures the Falcon that his injured hands will prevent him from doing any fighting and he just wants to help him cover a wider area. About an hour later, Peggy catches up to Cap, wanting to lend a hand, and he’s glad to have some company. By late afternoon, they find themselves at Dave Cox’s house, and he invites them in for coffee. The Cobra, the Eel, and the Viper soon attack, blowing a hole in the side of Cox’s house. Peggy implores Cox to use the rifle over his mantle to hold the villains off and accuses him of cowardice when he refuses. She’s ready to use the gun herself, but Cox reveals that he doesn’t have any ammunition for it—it’s merely a symbol to remind him of his pacifist convictions. Seeing the villains approaching, Cap yells at them to stop arguing and leaps into the rafters, telling Cox to keep the trio distracted until they are positioned directly below him. Bravely, Cox stands his ground when their foes break down the door, even though the Cobra shoots him with an energy weapon that causes intense pain. Cap then drops into the villains’ midst and manages to defeat the Cobra and the Viper before the Falcon arrives and captures the fleeing Eel. Peggy is impressed that Cox never cracked under pressure, and Cap tells her that Cox is no coward but a man who stands firm on his principles. The police soon arrive and take the Cobra, the Eel, and the Viper into custody. Falcon goes back to Harlem the next day, but Cap agrees to stay on in Virginia to help Peggy with her recovery. A few days later, Cap phones Nick Fury and informs him of the situation with Sharon and her family.
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<b>February 1966 –</b> In the middle of the month, Captain America returns to New York when he learns that Quicksilver has arrived at Avengers Mansion intending to talk his sister out of her love affair with the Vision. As expected, the discussion proves to be very contentious. The team’s butler, Edwin Jarvis, is serving Sunday brunch to Cap, Thor, Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, the Black Panther, and the Vision when the entire building is suddenly transported to the 23rd century by Kang the Conqueror. With the element of surprise, Kang is able to knock out everyone in the mansion. Cap awakens sometime later to find himself and his teammates in the shattered remains of a bank of stasis tubes in Kang’s fortress. Iron Man is now among them, obviously having been captured as well. They have been freed by Black Bolt, Gorgon, Karnak, and Triton of the Inhumans, while Kang lies defeated under some rubble nearby. Spider-Man then enters, having captured Thor’s old foe Zarrko the Tomorrow Man. However, as Spider-Man hustles everyone out of the citadel for transport back to the 20th century, they discover that Kang tricked them with a robot double and made good his escape. The voice of the real Kang then mocks them over the loudspeaker. As Zarrko is turned over to the local authorities, Spider-Man explains how he and the Human Torch tracked down and destroyed three chronal-displacement bombs that Zarrko sent back to the 20th century to destroy civilization, after which Black Bolt’s brother, Maximus the Mad, was able to convert one of the bombs into a crude but effective time machine. Suddenly, with a blinding flash of light, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, Vision, Spider-Man, and Jarvis find themselves back on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, standing outside Avengers Mansion. Assuming the Inhumans returned directly to their Great Refuge in the Himalayas, Thor notes that the team owes them a profound debt of gratitude. Feeling slighted, Spider-Man makes a wise-ass remark and swings away. Entering their headquarters, the Avengers find they’ve been gone for two days. Realizing that his arguments are falling on deaf ears, Quicksilver returns to the Inhumans’ hidden city.
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Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, and Vision respond when the Avengers are called in by the city to make repairs to the Statue of Liberty, which was heavily damaged by a giant monster a few months ago. A mishap causes the statue’s right hand to break off and plummet toward the Scarlet Witch. Vision swoops in to rescue her as their teammates deal with the falling debris. To the shock of the crowds watching from below, Vision and Scarlet Witch embrace and kiss. By the time the heroes return to Avengers Mansion, news of the romance between the mutant woman and the android man has spread like wildfire. The next day, they receive mountains of mail expressing all manner of views on the relationship, much of it negative. Cap is shocked and offended by some of the rhetoric of religious fundamentalists who see the match as the work of the devil. Some of New York’s more obnoxious residents appear at the mansion’s front door, but Iron Man and the Black Panther send them away. After a few days, the hubbub dies down.
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<b>March 1966 –</b> Still splitting his time between New York and Virginia, Captain America joins Thor, Iron Man, the Scarlet Witch, the Black Panther, and the Vision when they go out to stop a gang of neo-Nazis that is beating up Jews in the street. The Avengers make short work of the neo-Nazis, but suddenly they are rushed by a suicide bomber who detonates the explosives strapped to her chest and seriously damages the Vision. Cradling the Vision in his arms, Iron Man flies at once to the Long Island laboratories of Stark Industries. Thor announces that he will fetch the surgeon Donald Blake and departs. Cap and Black Panther escort the distraught Scarlet Witch to the factory complex, where the Black Panther disappears into the operating theater with Stark and Blake. Cap is annoyed with Thor and Iron Man for not sticking around and wonders what they’re doing. Suddenly, more suicide bombers burst in and attack them, clearly intent on finishing off the Vision. Cap holds them off while the Scarlet Witch goes to warn the others. A minute or so later, Iron Man arrives and carries one of the bombers into the sky, where he blows himself up. Iron Man does not return, but Thor, the Scarlet Witch, and the Black Panther soon join the fray until the last of the bombers detonate their explosives and kill themselves. The Avengers are shocked by such reckless fanaticism. A few minutes later, Tony Stark emerges from the laboratory to announce that the Vision should make a full recovery. Cap is startled when the Scarlet Witch reacts with indignant rage, ranting about the way the Vision has been treated—even by her own brother—despite his many heroic acts. Cap is disturbed by the way she complains about “humans,” apparently oblivious to her own bigotry. With all the suicide bombers dead, the Avengers are unable to learn anything more about their motives.
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Recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. to help guard the government’s new guided-missile telemetry system, Captain America fights several agents of Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.) when they show up to steal it. Spider-Man unexpectedly swings through a broken window and joins the fight. Cap does not object, and the villains are quickly defeated. However, when Cap calls in S.H.I.E.L.D. for the mopping-up operation, Nick Fury brings both superheroes aboard the Helicarrier for a briefing. Fury reveals that A.I.M.’s mission was to steal any one of three copies of the new system, and though Spider-Man helped Captain America safeguard one copy and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents at Cape Kennedy protected another, the third was successfully stolen from an installation in the Midwest. A tracking device hidden inside the system shows that it has been brought to Queens and appears to be currently located beneath the Science Pavilion on the grounds of the World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows Park. Fury convinces Spider-Man to help Cap recover the stolen device, so the two heroes break into A.I.M.’s underground complex, where they find the subversive organization is working with the Grey Gargoyle to launch a weapon into orbit. Badly outnumbered, both heroes are quickly knocked out and turned to stone by the Grey Gargoyle’s petrifying touch. Luckily, the chemicals in Cap’s body giving him super-strength cause the effect to wear off much sooner than usual, and Spider-Man, too, quickly shrugs off the transformation. Thus, the two heroes are able to break free before being launched into space. As A.I.M.’s missile takes off, one of the chains used to bind Cap and Spider-Man gets tangled around the Grey Gargoyle’s ankle and he is hauled away into the sky. Without their super-powered ally, the A.I.M. agents are quickly defeated. Seeing that Cap has the situation under control, Spider-Man says goodnight and swings off into the darkness. Cap guards their defeated foes until S.H.I.E.L.D. arrives to take them into custody.
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<b>April 1966 –</b> After taking over as Avengers chairman from Iron Man, Captain America certifies the Vision as fit for active duty after a series of tests in the mansion’s combat-simulation room. Afterwards, Cap is annoyed when the Scarlet Witch allows their old enemy the Swordsman to enter their headquarters with his girlfriend, a Vietnamese woman called Mantis. The Swordsman insists that he’s reformed and petitions to join the team (legitimately this time) as Hawkeye’s replacement. Cap tells the former super-villain to keep dreaming, but the Scarlet Witch objects, accusing Cap of being ruled by his prejudices. Iron Man is forced to concur, pointing out that the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Hawkeye, and the Black Widow were all considered “villains” before getting a shot at redemption. When Thor volunteers to take full responsibility for the Swordsman’s behavior during a probationary period, Cap grudgingly bows to the will of the majority. Iron Man asks Mantis if she wants to join the team too, but she insists she is merely the Swordsman’s companion. Glad to have another woman to talk to, Scarlet Witch assures Mantis that she’s welcome there. After a week of working closely together, Thor recommends that the Swordsman be granted all the privileges of Avengers membership. Despite Cap’s reservations, the team votes to induct him into their ranks, and all agree to trust that the Swordsman really has reformed.
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When the Falcon receives a disturbing letter from a childhood friend who is incarcerated at Grimrock Prison in Maryland, Cap agrees to help him investigate the matter. They ride there from the Carters’ estate on their motorcycles, arriving shortly before dawn. They then split up and enter the apparently deserted prison from opposite sides. Upon finding a blood-stained mask like his own, Cap is suddenly attacked by about twenty werewolves, though he manages to fight them off. Then, a teen-aged African American in a skimpy black leather outfit saunters in, introduces herself as “Deadly Nightshade,” and claims to be the “queen of werewolves.” She brags about her scheme to lure Cap and the Falcon to the prison, admitting to having dressed one of the convicts up as Captain America so her werewolves could practice killing him. Her prancing around and provocative posing convinces Cap that she’s just a mixed-up kid pretending to be a super-villainess, but he realizes her immaturity makes her even more dangerous. She leads Cap to another room where the Falcon is chained up and locks them in together. Falcon reveals that he’s been injected with some kind of serum and then suddenly transforms into a werewolf. Breaking free of his chains, Falcon savagely attacks Cap, who maneuvers him into smashing down the door. They fight for several minutes before Cap is able to put his monstrous partner down with a nerve-jab to the neck. When several of the other werewolves charge past them, Cap follows, hoping they’ll lead him to Deadly Nightshade. Sure enough, he soon finds the distraught girl on the roof of the prison, ranting about having failed the Yellow Claw and exhorting her werewolves to follow her in a death-plunge. Before Cap can stop her, Deadly Nightshade throws herself off the roof, followed by dozens of her werewolves, and they plummet into a stream that runs along the wall of the building. Falcon tries to follow as well, but Cap manages to hold him back until the first rays of dawn reverse his transformation. Nick Fury and a squad of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents then arrive, on the trail of the Yellow Claw, and are not happy to find Captain America and the Falcon interfering with their mission. Falcon reveals that he learned from Deadly Nightshade that his friend was the man she dressed as Cap and had killed. Frustrated and depressed, he just wants to hand things off to S.H.I.E.L.D. and go home to Harlem. Cap, however, declares that, since Deadly Nightshade was obviously working for the Yellow Claw, the fight against the Chinese criminal mastermind has just become personal. Leaving Fury and his men to clean up the bodies, Cap and Falcon go their separate ways.
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Back in Virginia, Cap tells Sharon and Peggy that he’ll need to be spending more time in New York City now that he’s serving as Avengers chairman. Peggy is concerned about a media campaign calling Cap a reckless vigilante and questioning his motives. Cap blows it off, confident that the public is unlikely to turn against him. He then rides his motorcycle back to Manhattan, reviewing everything he knows about the Yellow Claw on the way. When he arrives, he finds dozens of giant spiders swarming out of the sewers and helps the police try to contain the monsters. A signal broadcast over the city’s airwaves causes the spiders to retreat as a small plane overhead skywrites a threat from the Yellow Claw. Cap pursues the spiders to the Yellow Claw’s subterranean lair and fights with him. When the villain is knocked out, though, Cap is horrified to discover he was actually battling Nick Fury. Cap rushes the injured spymaster to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, where the agency’s medics take over. Contessa Valentina Allegra de La Fontaine is upset and accuses Cap of hurting Fury intentionally, but Dum Dum Dugan orders her to back off since they need to focus on hunting down the Yellow Claw. Wanting to get some rest, Cap changes into Steve Rogers and heads back to his old rooms at the Corinth Hotel near Gramercy Park, only to find he’s been evicted by his unscrupulous landlord. Since the apartment has already been rented to someone else, Steve makes his way to Harlem, hoping to crash on the Falcon’s couch. When he arrives, though, Falcon meets him outside and tells him Peggy showed up a few minutes ago, having followed him like a lovesick schoolgirl. Steve is frustrated, wishing he and Sharon could just be honest with Peggy about their relationship. He’s almost relieved when they overhear a radio news bulletin reporting that the Yellow Claw has been spotted outside the American Museum of Natural History on Central Park West. Steve quickly changes back into Captain America and they set out for the museum at once, leaving Peggy upstairs with Leila.
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Inside the museum, Cap and Falcon fight their way past some reanimated mummies and discover the Yellow Claw in the Egyptology wing performing some kind of magical rite. The villain succeeds in bonding the spirit of the ancient Egyptian princess Fan-Le-Tamen with the body of his own grand-niece, Suwan. Knocked unconscious by their foe’s zombie-like bodyguards, Cap and Falcon revive in time to escape from a diabolical death-trap. Unable to locate the Yellow Claw or his grand-niece, though, the heroes return to the Falcon’s apartment. They are joined there by Sharon, who has come looking for her sister. Cap tries to let Peggy down easy and convinces her to go back to Virginia with Sharon. Cap and Falcon then pay a visit to Nick Fury, who becomes lucid long enough to warn them that the Yellow Claw plans to steal some robots from the Helicarrier. Joined by Dugan and the Contessa, the two superheroes head immediately to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s flying fortress, only to succumb to the Yellow Claw’s potent knock-out gas. However, the Yellow Claw revives them with an antidote after the possessed Suwan betrays him. They stop Suwan and her henchmen from stealing her robot doppelgänger, which was impounded by S.H.I.E.L.D. two years ago. Unfortunately, in all the confusion, the Yellow Claw manages to kill Suwan and escape with the robot. Finding themselves unwelcome on the Helicarrier, Cap and Falcon return to Harlem.
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Seeing a news report of Hawkeye and the Hulk on the waterfront battling a giant creature made of electricity, the Avengers discuss the fact that the archer has returned to New York without contacting them, indicating that he really does intend to go his own way from now on. Suddenly, the Lion God smashes into the chamber, apparently abetted by the Swordsman and Mantis. Cap is furious, believing his suspicions have been confirmed, and is astonished when Mantis takes out Thor with her martial arts skills. The Lion God then blasts Iron Man into unconsciousness with searing energy rays from his hunting spear. As the Vision falls to the Swordsman, Mantis knocks Cap out with a nerve-pinch. When he regains consciousness, Cap learns that, with the help of the Swordsman and Mantis, Iron Man was able to trap the Lion God within an adamantium cylinder until Thor could banish him to another dimension. Mantis explains that she had sensed a malignant force lurking around the mansion and worked with the Swordsman to lure it out into the open. They then pretended to cooperate with the Lion God, planning all the while to turn the tables on him at the crucial moment. Impressed by the couple’s daring, Thor expresses the team’s profound gratitude. Even so, Cap is unwilling to discount the possibility that the whole thing was an elaborate scheme to earn the Avengers’ trust to leave them vulnerable to a later betrayal, but since he isn’t sure, he keeps his suspicions to himself.
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<b>May 1966 –</b> Realizing that no one’s heard from the Black Knight in several months, the Avengers decide to return to Garrett Castle in England to check up on him. As soon as their Quinjet enters British airspace, though, they are harassed by S.H.I.E.L.D., which objects to the Swordsman and Mantis, both of whom have criminal records, entering the United Kingdom. Fortunately, the Avengers are able to clear the matter up and soon touch down in a meadow outside the castle. However, they are surprised to discover the entire structure is surrounded by an invisible force field which they are unable to penetrate. Mantis performs some kind of mystic probe and determines that the barrier was erected by Doctor Strange. Suddenly, a large group of ragged, primitive-looking men with medieval weapons streams out of camouflaged holes in the ground and attacks the heroes, knocking them out with crude bombs that release a potent toxic gas. When he comes to, Captain America finds he and his teammates being held prisoner in a network of caverns, presumably beneath the Black Knight’s estate. The primitives are upset because the force field is preventing them from looting the castle’s storehouses, which is how they’ve sustained themselves since retreating underground to escape persecution hundreds of years ago. Cap realizes that generations of inbreeding have caused the cave-dwellers to become savage barbarians, but their toxic gas prevents him and most of his teammates from fighting back. Luckily, Thor, Vision, and Mantis seem immune to its effects, and they hold off a giant insectoid monster long enough for the Black Panther to force their captors to surrender. The Avengers march the defeated barbarians back to the surface, where they call in medical and government aid for the lost tribe. The barbarian king informs the Avengers that the Black Knight was taken away by people in weird costumes before the castle was sealed off by the invisible wall. The heroes decide to head at once to Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum back in New York to ask him about it.
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However, when the Avengers reach the sorcerer’s home in Greenwich Village, they are repelled by a mysterious force. Thor smashes down the front door with his hammer and forces his way inside, where Mantis roughs up Doctor Strange’s butler. They catch of glimpse of the Black Knight in an interior room, having apparently been turned to stone, and assume that Doctor Strange is responsible. Before they can react, though, the Avengers are ejected from the building by hurricane-force winds. Thor rages at the unseen sorcerer, saying they will return when they’ve figured out how to overcome his magic, and then the Avengers go back to their headquarters, seething with indignation. Shortly afterwards, a psychic projection of Loki materializes in the mansion to warn the Avengers that Doctor Strange is leading a cabal of super-powered misfits on a quest to obtain the six segments of the legendary weapon known as the Evil Eye of Avalon, which has the power to destroy the world. Joining the mysterious master of black magic is the bestial Hulk, whose hatred for humanity is well known; the savage Sub-Mariner, who has long warred against the human race; the Silver Surfer, the bitter alien imprisoned on Earth; the Valkyrie, who desires revenge for her defeat at the hands of the Avengers a couple years ago; and even their former teammate Hawkeye, who wants to strike back at those he believes betrayed him. Though Thor is not inclined to believe anything his adopted brother says, the other Avengers convince him that they should check it out.
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Thus, Cap flies to Osaka, Japan, while his teammates cover the other five locations provided by Loki. En route, he receives a transmission from the Vision and the Scarlet Witch, reporting that they were attacked in Polynesia by the Silver Surfer, who made off with a segment of the Evil Eye. With Loki’s tale apparently confirmed, Cap commences his search. After landing in Osaka, Cap is met by an unusually hostile mob, but they are driven off when the Sub-Mariner appears, already holding a segment of the Evil Eye, and attacks him. Namor insists that he won their last battle three-and-a-half years ago and mocks Cap’s recently acquired super-strength. Their fight carries them into the harbor, where Sunfire suddenly swoops down and snatches the mysterious weapon. Sub-Mariner flies off after him, with Cap clinging to his ankle. As they argue in mid-air, Namor disabuses Cap of the idea that Doctor Strange turned the Black Knight to stone, explaining that the deed was done by the Enchantress and that Strange has worked tirelessly to break the spell since then. The Evil Eye is their last chance to save their mutual friend, he insists, and with that, Namor shakes Cap loose, sending him plunging into the ocean below. As he swims back to shore, Cap realizes that he believes Namor’s story and that both groups must have been duped by Loki’s lies. Thus, Cap helps Namor retrieve the Evil Eye from Sunfire. After the Japanese mutant has been defeated, Cap and Sub-Mariner board the Quinjet, determined to find out what’s really going on.
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After picking up Iron Man, the Scarlet Witch, the Black Panther, the Vision, the Swordsman, and Mantis, the Quinjet flies to Greenwich Village, where the Sub-Mariner leads the Avengers into the Sanctum Sanctorum without incident. In a well-appointed sitting room, they find Doctor Strange, the Silver Surfer, the Valkyrie, and Hawkeye, who are shocked and enraged by the intrusion. Cap notices the petrified form of the Black Knight standing in a corner of the room. Sub-Mariner informs his teammates that Loki told the Avengers that their team, which they call the Defenders, was out to conquer the world. Valkyrie explains to the Avengers the real reason they sought out the Evil Eye. Cap is a bit confused, since he’d been told that the Valkyrie was merely an illusion the Enchantress used to disguise herself, but such matters are explained as the two teams get to know each other better over the next half hour. Finally, Iron Man realizes that Thor and the Hulk are still out on the battlefield and could be laying waste to Los Angeles at that very moment. Thus, Doctor Strange weaves a spell that teleports everyone out to California.
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There, they find Thor and the Hulk locked in a stalemate, each one’s super-strong muscles straining against the other’s as they grapple, but Doctor Strange convinces them to stand down. The Avengers and the Defenders then compare notes and realize that Thor was fighting Loki in Rutland, Vermont, last Halloween at the same time that the Defenders were battling Dormammu there. They speculate that the two arch-villains must have teamed up. Their suspicions are confirmed when the six segments of the Evil Eye are suddenly stolen by Dormammu’s servant Asti the All-Seeing. Despite the best efforts of the assembled heroes, Asti escapes with the segments into another dimension. Almost immediately, the city around them begins to transform into a nightmarish world of horror, the people metamorphosing into monstrous demons. An image of Dormammu’s flaming head appears in the sky, announcing that he is using the Evil Eye to bring Earth into his Dark Dimension, thereby enabling him to conquer the planet without violating his oath to never invade our universe. The Avengers and the Defenders vow to prevent this at any cost. However, the transformed bystanders begin to attack the heroes, forcing them to fight back. Captain America helps keep the monsters at bay while Doctor Strange casts a spell to prevent any of the 14 superheroes present from changing into monsters themselves. The sorcerer then tries to convince Cap that both teams need to take the fight directly to Dormammu in the Dark Dimension. Cap is reluctant to abandon the earth in such a time of crisis but relents when Nick Fury and the forces of S.H.I.E.L.D. arrive on the scene. Leaving Fury and his agents to deal with the monsters, Doctor Strange casts a spell to transport the Avengers and the Defenders into Dormammu’s realm.
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In the weird landscape of the Dark Dimension, Doctor Strange yells at the headstrong Avengers to keep them from blundering to their doom, prompting Thor to order his teammates to defer to the sorcerer’s expertise. Then, after beating off the numberless hordes of the Mindless Ones, the heroes find Dormammu, brandishing the Evil Eye, with Loki imprisoned in a cage of flames. To everyone’s surprise, the Watcher is also present, looking on enigmatically. Doctor Strange manages to breach the mystic barrier separating them, but with one wave of his hand, Dormammu’s augmented magic instantly renders the six Defenders unconscious. Undaunted, Thor leads the Avengers in a desperate charge, but Dormammu turns the ground under their feet into quicksand. Iron Man, Thor, and Scarlet Witch avoid the trap and press onward, but the two men quickly fall to Dormammu’s power. However, Loki suddenly frees himself from the flaming cage and grapples with Dormammu, enabling the Scarlet Witch to cast a hex bolt at them. There is a flash of light and then Dormammu is gone, leaving Loki gibbering like a madman. The Avengers and the Defenders regroup, and the Watcher congratulates the 14 heroes on their great victory. He explains that the hex caused the Evil Eye to malfunction, whereupon it disintegrated Dormammu, absorbed his mystical energies, and blasted them out again straight through Loki’s brain. The Asgardian god’s mind has been shattered, leaving him with the intellect of an infant. And though Dormammu’s corporeal form has been destroyed, the Watcher warns, he will eventually reintegrate himself with the aid of his many black-hearted worshipers. Doctor Strange then retrieves the Evil Eye and casts a spell that returns the two teams to Los Angeles.
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The Avengers and the Defenders materialize on the same street in L.A. to find the crisis is over. The people who had been transformed into monsters have reverted to normal and are wandering around the rubble-strewn streets in a daze. Nick Fury offers the two teams his congratulations on their victory. However, wishing to keep the existence of the Defenders a secret, Doctor Strange removes all memory of their involvement from Fury and his agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as well as any bystanders who witnessed their presence earlier in the day. Furthermore, he combines the power of the Evil Eye with his own sorcerous might to undo all damage and destruction the world over caused by Dormammu’s scheme, leaving everyone believing they had just suffered a mass hallucination. Finally, after bidding farewell to the Avengers, Strange teleports his team back to his Sanctum Sanctorum to attend to the Black Knight. The Avengers borrow a jet from S.H.I.E.L.D. and return to New York as well. Unfortunately, since they do not arrive in a Quinjet, the Avengers are unable to deactivate their mansion’s rooftop security systems ahead of time. Luckily, Black Panther is able to do it manually. The Scarlet Witch complains again about “humans,” but Cap dismisses it as a case of post-battle nerves. Leaving the others to deal with the nearly catatonic Loki, Cap heads back to Harlem.
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Cap and Falcon are attacked one night by a costumed gunman who calls himself “the Phoenix” and claims to be out for revenge, though neither hero can guess who he might be. When his laser-rifle runs out of power, the villain retreats, disappearing into the darkness. The next day, however, the Phoenix manages to capture Cap with some knock-out gas. When he comes to, Cap finds himself in a warehouse, bolted to a steel slab and suspended over a large vat of bubbling chemicals. Removing his mask, the Phoenix reveals that he is Helmut Zemo, the son of Baron Heinrich Zemo, who died battling Captain America three years ago. He blames Cap for destroying his father’s life and legacy and reveals that the vat contains Adhesive X, Baron Zemo’s greatest invention. Before Cap can be lowered into the chemical brew, though, Falcon crashes through a window and beats up their foe. Seizing his chance, Cap breaks free of his bonds using his super-strength. However, he stops the fight, announcing that he’d rather try to make the Phoenix see reason instead of just throwing him in jail to stew in his hatred. Unfortunately, the Phoenix tries to use Cap’s shield against him and ends up knocking himself into the vat of Adhesive X. Cap is about to dive in to try to save him, but the Falcon stops him, insisting that it’s too late. Cap then calls in S.H.I.E.L.D. to dispose of all the Adhesive X, but Helmut Zemo’s body is not found. The heroes assume the body was completely dissolved by the boiling chemicals.
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<b>June 1966 –</b> Captain America is with Iron Man, the Scarlet Witch, the Black Panther, and the Vision at Avengers Mansion when Rick Jones’s girlfriend, Lou-Ann Savannah, shows up on the verge of exhaustion and babbling about someone called “Thanos.” The young woman passes out, and while examining her, Iron Man tells Cap about his recent encounter with Thanos, an alien despot out to conquer the earth. Iron Man then discovers one of the Controller’s slave-discs attached to the nape of Lou-Ann’s neck. Realizing his old foe has returned, Iron Man places her under a device intended to partially inhibit the disc’s operation. She is still there a little while later when Captain Marvel arrives at the mansion. He quickly switches interdimensional places with Rick Jones, who informs the Avengers that he, Lou-Ann, and Captain Marvel have indeed gotten mixed up with Thanos, who sees conquering Earth merely as a stepping-stone to galactic domination. Rick trades places with Captain Marvel again as they head to the Avengers’ conference room for a full briefing. The Kree hero informs the team that Thanos has come to Earth in search of the Cosmic Cube, which the Avengers know could make him invincible. The meeting is interrupted by the Controller, who has broken into the mansion. Captain America is knocked out in the fight, and when he awakens, he discovers that part of their headquarters has been completely demolished and he and his teammates are buried in the wreckage. As they dig themselves out, the heroes are frustrated to learn that the Controller kidnapped Lou-Ann and escaped. The Avengers notice that Captain Marvel’s hair has changed from silver to blond, but he says only that he’s had a strange experience that’s given him a new perspective. Work on reconstructing Avengers Mansion begins immediately, coordinated by the various charitable foundations Tony Stark has set up for such emergencies. Captain Marvel soon defeats the Controller and rescues Lou-Ann.
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<b>July 1966 –</b> Captain America steps down as Avengers chairman and hands the gavel off to the Black Panther. Soon after, chaos erupts in the Middle East when a group of super-powered terrorists dubbed the Elementals seals off the Egyptian capital, Cairo, behind an impenetrable force field. The United Nations requests that the Avengers mobilize when the terrorists launch attacks on neighboring countries like Israel and the Sudan but is reluctant to send the team in for fear of making international tensions in the region worse. Ultimately, freedom fighters within Cairo manage to liberate the city and defeat the Elementals, though details remain sketchy.
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As the relentless smear campaign against him continues in radio and newspaper ads, Cap is forced to admit that public opinion is being swayed, and he’s no longer sure he enjoys the full support of the people. He is distracted, though, when Peggy insists on moving in with Sharon at her Park Avenue townhouse, saying she feels “smothered” at their parents’ estate in Virginia. Cap is glad that Sharon is back in town but remains frustrated about hiding their romance from Peggy.
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<b>October 1966 –</b> On Halloween, Mantis senses mystic emanations that portend great danger in Rutland, Vermont. Remembering the events of previous years, the Avengers decide they’d better check it out. When they arrive, Tom Fagan, one of the parade’s organizers, asks them to ride on one of the floats. Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and Black Panther agree, hoping to draw out the source of the unknown danger, but the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, the Swordsman, and Mantis decide not to participate and wander off into the crowd. Two hours later, as the parade is winding down, Cap is frustrated that nothing has happened. Fagan then leads the four heroes through the woods toward his house, only to suddenly reveal that he is the villain in disguise. Catching the Avengers off guard with some magic pellets, he knocks them out and takes them prisoner. When he comes to, Cap discovers that they have been captured by the Collector, but the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, the Swordsman, and Mantis have come to the rescue. The Collector activates two magic stones that produce a swarm of vampire bats that threaten the entire town, hoping to barter for his freedom. However, Mantis kicks the villain in the face and knocks him out, then uses the magic stones to make the bats vanish again. The real Tom Fagan thanks the Avengers for saving the city and offers them any further assistance he can provide. Thor asks Fagan if he would be willing to take over caring for Loki, feeling that Rutland would be a more appropriate setting for his near-catatonic brother. Fagan agrees, so the Avengers return to their Quinjet and fly back to New York. Unfortunately, the Collector escapes as soon as he regains consciousness.
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<b>November 1966 –</b> In the morning, Captain America and Thor fly Loki up to Rutland, Vermont, and meet Tom Fagan at his new house. As Loki wanders around enjoying the scenic vistas, Fagan assures Thor that his brother will be well looked after, as he’s enlisted the help of numerous townspeople. Satisfied that they’ve found the ideal solution, Cap and Thor return to New York. A week or so later, Cap holds a strategy session in which the team reviews their clash in the spring with the Defenders and how they all worked together to defeat the combined might of Loki and Dormammu. Cap is pleased with the way things have been going for the Avengers overall and has even begun to soften his stance toward the Swordsman and Mantis.
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Cap intervenes one evening when he finds the Falcon brawling with some local mob enforcers, but the criminals immediately run away, not wanting to face a foe with super-strength. Falcon uses it as an opportunity to address the power imbalance between them, insisting that he can’t be an equal partner if he’s just a costumed athlete. Cap suggests that either Tony Stark or Hank Pym might be able to come up with something, but Falcon says he’d be more comfortable working with the Black Panther rather than asking for help from a white man. Cap is understanding and immediately sets off for Avengers Mansion. Along the way, Cap sees in a store window that the smear campaign against him has now moved to television. Cap is horrified to see how the ad has twisted the facts to portray him in the most negative way possible and realizes these TV spots could do serious damage to his public image. Noting that the ad was paid for by an organization called the Committee to Regain America’s Principles, Cap decides the time has come to confront them. Now boiling mad, he continues on to Avengers Mansion, where he discusses the Falcon’s situation with the Black Panther, who says he would be delighted to help.
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Thus, the next morning, Black Panther picks up the Falcon and Leila in one of his airships and flies them to Wakanda. Cap heads over to the Madison Avenue offices of the advertising firm behind the campaign to discredit him and angrily confronts one of its senior partners, Quentin Harderman. The smarmy executive plays it cool and says he would reconsider his view of Captain America if the hero were to agree to participate in a charity boxing exhibition that he’s promoting. Cap is outraged, since he’s already done numerous exhibitions of that sort and it was hardly necessary to orchestrate an elaborate mudslinging campaign to get him to agree to another. After accepting Harderman’s proposal, Cap storms out and starts to wish he had just ignored the negative ads, as was his first instinct. He is distracted when he stumbles upon the Tumbler, a small-time crook he encountered three years ago, robbing a liquor store. Cap tries to apprehend the Tumbler, but he’s so distracted by his anger at Harderman that the thief is able to escape. Disgusted with himself, Cap heads over to Sharon’s apartment, where he finds her at her wit’s end because Peggy has decided to join S.H.I.E.L.D., thinking the agency can provide her the training she’ll need to fight at Cap’s side like it’s still World War II. They agree that it’s past time they revealed the true nature of their relationship to Peggy. Cap then rides over to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, intending to convince Fury to turn down Peggy’s application, but when he gets there, the Contessa tells him to get lost.
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When he arrives at the exhibition hall where the boxing match is supposed to take place, Cap is confused to find a car show going on instead. Quentin Harderman appears and introduces Cap to a man named John Robert Keane, whom he immediately recognizes as the Tumbler. Cap tries to apprehend Keane and roughs him up when he attempts to flee. However, Keane suddenly drops dead. Cap is shocked and the crowd is horrified. Harderman loudly accuses Cap of murder, and two policemen move in to arrest him. Though conflicted about resisting arrest, Cap fears that the policemen are involved in this conspiracy against him and decides to make a run for it. Down the street, however, Cap regrets his rash action and realizes he has to turn himself in. Unfortunately, he is then attacked by a super-powered, armored man calling himself Moonstone. The battle is brief, and Cap is quickly knocked out by a blast of energy from Moonstone’s hands. When he comes to, Cap finds himself in jail. Outside his cell, several reporters are interviewing Moonstone, for whom Harderman appears to be acting as a publicity agent. Moonstone is telling the reporters about how he got his superpowers from a mysterious moon rock on display at a university where he worked as a janitor. Knowing that with great power comes great responsibility, he claims, he sought out the Committee to Regain America’s Principles for guidance and with their help was able to bring the criminal Captain America to justice. Cap objects angrily, but the reporters have been swayed by Harderman’s slick Madison Avenue salesmanship.
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Later that night, a group of men with high-tech weaponry stages a jailbreak, claiming to be Cap’s supporters. When Cap is reluctant to go with them, they gas him into unconsciousness. He revives sooner than they expected, though, and overhears them plotting to further discredit him with anonymous phone calls to the police and news media. Seeing that the gang has taken his shield from the jail, Cap leaps up, grabs it, and quickly defeats them. He interrogates their leader, referred to as “Number Four,” who mumbles an address before losing consciousness. Unable to turn the gang over to the police due to his fugitive status, Cap leaves them in the alley and slips off into the night. Shortly after midnight, Cap joins Thor, Iron Man, the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, and Mantis atop the Empire State Building to fight the twelve leaders of the international crime cartel Zodiac—Aquarius, Aries, Cancer, Capricorn, Gemini, Libra, Leo, Pisces, Sagittarius, Scorpio, Taurus, and Virgo. The Avengers are surprised to see Cap, knowing he’s wanted in connection with the death of the Tumbler. He assures his teammates he’s been framed, but then Aries throws the unconscious Mantis off the roof. While the Avengers are busy saving her, Zodiac escapes in their Star-Cruiser aircraft. The team decides to take Mantis back to their headquarters for medical treatment, but Cap knows he can’t join them until he’s cleared his name.
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At the address he obtained from Number Four, Cap is confronted by the Falcon, who now has large red wings attached to his costume that enable him to fly. Cap explains how Harderman framed him for murder, but they are interrupted by Moonstone, who boasts that he will now see to having the Falcon branded as Cap’s criminal accomplice. Gloating, Moonstone also admits to having killed the Tumbler with a nearly invisible laser beam from a sniper’s nest in the exhibition hall ceiling. Still inexperienced in aerial combat, the Falcon is quickly taken out, setting Cap up for a searing jolt of energy that knocks him out as well. When they revive, the heroes find themselves in Central Park, guarded by the gang that staged the jailbreak. Overcoming their foes, Cap and Falcon escape and make their way back to Harlem under cover of a fortuitous thunderstorm. Deducing that Moonstone is likely from Nashville, Tennessee, Cap and Falcon decide to head south to see what they can find out about their foe. Thus, at dawn, Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson hitch a ride in an 18-wheeler bound for Little Rock, Arkansas and hop out in Nashville a little over 24 hours later.
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After a scuffle with the Irish mutant known as the Banshee, Captain America and the Falcon are contacted by Professor X, Cyclops, and Marvel Girl, who are also in Nashville for some reason. Professor X reveals that the rest of the X-Men, as well as some of their allies and enemies, have been kidnapped by a mysterious anti-mutant group that he believes to be the same organization that’s been trying to destroy Cap’s reputation. They are interrupted suddenly by Nick Fury, who has appeared along with Dum Dum Dugan and a detachment of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents backed up by the Tennessee State Police. Fury demands that Cap surrender, but the superheroes decide to fight their way out. Cyclops is able to hold the law-enforcement officers off with his optic blasts as the beleaguered heroes flee the scene. Once they’ve found a safe place to hide, Professor X continues his explanation. His investigation, he reports, suggests that their enemy is a resurgent subversive organization known as the Secret Empire, and that Quentin Harderman is one of their operatives. Their only lead right now, the Professor admits, is the Beast’s former girlfriend, a woman calling herself Linda Donaldson, whom he believes to be another agent of the Secret Empire. Following the Beast’s disappearance, Donaldson was transferred from her position at the Brand Corporation’s Long Island facility, where she and the Beast had both worked, to one of the company’s research campuses in Dallas, Texas. The Professor suggests that they head to Dallas and try to use Donaldson to enable Cap and the Falcon to infiltrate the Secret Empire. Determined to finally take the fight to their foes, Cap agrees to the plan.
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In Dallas later that evening, Steve and Sam disguise themselves as unemployed laborers and hang around outside Linda Donaldson’s apartment building. When she returns from work, Cyclops emerges from the woods and stages a kidnapping attempt. Steve and Sam charge in to the rescue, shouting anti-mutant slurs. Cyclops uses his optic blasts to wreck a couple of cars, including Donaldson’s, then retreats into the woods. Steve and Sam chat with Donaldson for a few minutes, claiming to be strangers in town looking for work and mentioning the name of the motel they’re staying at. After seeing Donaldson to her apartment, they return to the motel to see if she makes contact with them. Sure enough, they are soon visited by a man in a business suit wearing a hood to conceal his identity. On the hood’s forehead is printed the number 13. He offers them $10,000 to steal a device called an electron-gyro from the Brand Corporation, and when they agree, he provides them with details of the device and the facility’s security measures. After “Number 13” has left, Steve and Sam get a few hours of much-needed sleep.
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Worried about engaging in illegal activity, Steve insists that they sneak into the Brand Corporation as Captain America and the Falcon. When they grab the electron-gyro, Cap leaves a note in its place that asserts his innocence and promises to return the device once he’s cleared his name. They inadvertently trip an alarm and have to fight their way out of the complex but are otherwise successful. A few hours later, having switched to their “bum” disguises, Steve and Sam make their rendezvous with Number 13. He then flies them in a small jet to a remote location in the desert some distance to the west and escorts them into the underground headquarters of the Secret Empire. They are led into a large throne room, where the Secret Empire’s Number One is waiting for them. Receiving the electron-gyro, Number One is pleased to have the final component necessary to their plans of conquest. He boasts of how they have destroyed Captain America’s reputation and how their front organization, the Committee to Regain America’s Principles, has been flooded with support from disaffected citizens desperate for a new hero—Moonstone. He then orders Number 13 to take their two new recruits to their quarters to get settled in. Once they’re alone, though, Sam suddenly insists they get into costume and vacate the room. Steve is confused by this abrupt change of plan but goes along with it. No sooner are they inside a maintenance duct than the room is filled with deadly laser beams. As they retreat, Cap overhears one of the Secret Empire agents say they were tipped off by the note he left at the Brand Corporation, and he berates himself for being so worried about salvaging their reputations that he made such a basic blunder. After helping Cap destroy a large robot guard, Falcon has a hunch and opens a service hatch, which allows Professor X, Cyclops, and Marvel Girl to enter the installation.
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Explaining that the Falcon’s hunches were a result of his telepathic suggestions, Professor X leads them to another area of the underground complex, where they are horrified to discover the missing mutants—Iceman, Angel, Beast, Havok, Lorna Dane, Blob, Mastermind, Mesmero, and Unus the Untouchable—shackled to a large machine that is siphoning off the peculiar mutant energies in their bodies. Cap and Cyclops wreck the machine and free the captive mutants, but then Number One enters the room with Linda Donaldson and several of the Secret Empire’s shock troops. Cap, Falcon, Cyclops, and Marvel Girl attack them immediately, but the former captives are too groggy to help out. The battle is brief, as Number One orders his Number 68 to use a weapon called the atomic annihilator, which blasts all the heroes into unconsciousness. Fearing he’s reached the end of the road only to find defeat, Cap struggles to hold on but finally blacks out as Number One gloats.
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Cap slowly comes to sometime later to find himself on the floor of a dank sub-basement. Realizing two members of the Secret Empire are looming over him, he bolts up, but they reveal themselves to be top S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Gabe Jones and his rookie partner Peggy Carter, on her first mission. Jones explains that he was Number 68 and made sure the atomic annihilator blast would be non-lethal. After giving Cap a quick briefing about the history of the Secret Empire and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s attempts to bring them down, Jones revives the other heroes. Cap can’t help but notice how happy Peggy is to be back in action and doing something meaningful with her life again. He realizes she’s tougher than either he or Sharon gave her credit for. Leaving Professor X behind, Cap, Falcon, Cyclops, and Marvel Girl stow away aboard the flying saucer the Secret Empire is taking to Washington, D.C. The craft is powered by the mutant energies of the nine prisoners, who have been recaptured and wired into the engines. As they speed across the country, Jones reveals what the Secret Empire plans to do after they land on the White House lawn—defeat Moonstone in a fake battle, then demand that America surrender or be destroyed by nuclear bombs their agents have hidden all over the country. Cap is determined not to let that happen.
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After the flying saucer has landed, Cap, Falcon, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, and the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents storm the command deck. Cyclops destroys the control panel for the mutant-energy siphon, then Cap races outside to capture Number One, who’s ranting and raving on the landing ramp. As Cap tackles the masked megalomaniac, Falcon swoops out of the ship, saying he’ll get the locations of the nuclear bombs to S.H.I.E.L.D. so they can be disarmed. Moonstone, standing near some reporters, tries to insinuate that Captain America is in league with the Secret Empire, but Cap charges at him and kicks Moonstone’s ass on national television. Quentin Harderman comes running up, followed by a TV camera crew, and starts to say that his group was duped by Moonstone. However, Moonstone cuts him off, unwilling to take the fall for the entire conspiracy. He announces that the Committee to Regain America’s Principles was never more than a front for the Secret Empire and that the idea to discredit Captain America was cooked up by Harderman and his former partner, Jordan Dixon, a.k.a. the Viper, who is currently in prison. As Moonstone continues his televised confession, Dum Dum Dugan arrives on the scene to take charge of the S.H.I.E.L.D. operation. Cyclops and Marvel Girl escort the nine captive mutants out of the flying saucer. Looking around, Cap finally smiles, feeling a tremendous sense of vindication and reaffirmation.
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Suddenly, Cap sees that Number One is trying to slip away and chases him into the evacuated White House. There, he tackles the villain and pulls off his concealing cowl. Cap recoils in horror to discover that Number One is none other than the President of the United States, Morris N. Richardson. President Richardson admits that even the highest office in the land was too limiting for his grand ambitions, so he sought absolute power through the Secret Empire. But since his scheme has failed, he pulls out a gun and shoots himself in the head. Stunned, Cap staggers out of the building as Dugan and Jones enter. He walks past the Falcon, feeling like his entire world is crashing down around him. He notices that Cyclops and Marvel Girl seem to somehow know what has happened, as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents carry the body of Number One out of the White House, hidden under a sheet, and load it into one of their own vehicles. Dugan then takes Cap aside and swears him to secrecy, saying they cannot let it be known that the duly-elected President of the United States was behind a conspiracy to turn America into a totalitarian dictatorship. The cover-up begins less than an hour later, when a Life Model Decoy of President Richardson appears at Camp David to announce his immediate resignation, citing unspecified health problems. Vice-President William E. Miller, quickly cleared of any connection to the Secret Empire, is then sworn in as the nation’s 38th president. Over the next two days, the remaining subversives within the Richardson administration are ferreted out and quietly taken care of by S.H.I.E.L.D. Though exonerated of the murder charge against him, Cap finds his faith in the American system of government crumbling, and he returns to New York City feeling utterly devastated.
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<b>December 1966 –</b> Captain America finally returns to Avengers Mansion following the defeat of the Secret Empire and finds Iron Man, the Scarlet Witch, the Black Panther, and the Vision. Iron Man congratulates Cap on his vindication, but Cap is in no mood to celebrate. Unable to explain fully due to the cover-up, Cap merely says that he may have to re-think his entire life. The other Avengers try to cheer Cap up, knowing it’s not like him to be so cryptic. Iron Man regales Cap with the story of their battle against the dragon-like Star-Stalker in Vietnam and how Mantis and the Vision finally defeated the creature. They are interrupted when Thor returns from visiting Loki in Vermont, and soon afterward Mantis brings the Swordsman in, who has just arrived after being hospitalized in Saigon. Not in the mood to socialize, Cap returns home to Harlem but is soon called back to the mansion for a meeting with Captain Marvel and his two enigmatic friends, Drax the Destroyer and Moondragon. Captain Marvel reports that a hidden colony on Saturn’s moon Titan has been conquered by Thanos, who has now come into possession of the Cosmic Cube and is thus a threat to the entire universe. However, the strategy session is cut short when Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Drax, and Moondragon suddenly vanish into thin air. The Avengers realize they must have been kidnapped by Thanos. Though unable to find any trace of their missing friends, the Avengers learn from the space station Starcore One that an armada of starships is heading toward Earth from the vicinity of Mars—presumably Thanos’s fleet of space pirates that Captain Marvel warned them of. Deciding to intercept the armada before it reaches Earth, the Avengers take their spaceworthy Quinjet and Zodiac’s confiscated Star-Cruiser out to meet the threat. As the battle is joined, Thor leaves the Quinjet and smashes into the command deck of the fleet’s flagship, where he takes on an army of armored aliens singlehandedly. Cap pilots the Quinjet, using aerial dogfight tactics he learned during World War II, but the armada still manages to reach Earth. In high orbit, Cap blasts one of the alien ships with the Quinjet’s energy weapons, but it plummets down through the atmosphere and crashes in New York City. Cap is cursing his carelessness when the Avengers detect an amorphous area of utter darkness nearby, which proves to be a cloaking field around the ship that serves as the armada’s central universal translator. Scarlet Witch, Vision, Swordsman, and Mantis don spacesuits and penetrate the cloaking field. Several minutes later, the field collapses, revealing the ship within. The Quinjet and the Star-Cruiser destroy the ship, causing the aliens to lose their ability to communicate with each other. Gaining the upper hand, the Avengers press their attack, and within the hour, the fleet of invading ships has been destroyed, with a handful of survivors in full retreat. Victorious, the Avengers soon land on the roof of their Manhattan headquarters.
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Unfortunately, the team quickly discovers that Thanos has used the Cosmic Cube to shift the entire planet out of phase to prevent them from interfering with his plans. The space armada, they realize, was merely a distraction meant to lure the Avengers off Earth while Thanos caused the phase-shift. Still, Mantis is able to contact Captain Marvel and tell him what happened. Captain Marvel and Drax the Destroyer then attack Thanos, their fight soon carrying them away from Avengers Mansion as the team watches helplessly. Mantis sets off after them, and a few minutes later, the phase-shift is abruptly cancelled out. Entering their headquarters, the Avengers discover that Iron Man has returned as well, though he’s not sure how he got there. After comparing notes, they track Mantis to a nearby rooftop, where they find her with Captain Marvel and Drax. Captain Marvel has somehow defeated Thanos by smashing the Cosmic Cube, though he and Mantis give only vague and evasive answers to the Avengers’ questions. As Drax flies off into the night sky, Captain Marvel trades places with Rick Jones, who accompanies the others back to the mansion. Not long afterward, Captain America and Iron Man lend a hand when an old government research facility collapses a few blocks away. In the basement, they discover a vintage cryogenic vault and take it back to their headquarters for safekeeping. Iron Man decides to have some technicians from Stark Industries examine it after the holidays. Cap then learns that Rick has left on a 15-city concert tour as part of the opening act for a more famous band, a gig his manager arranged for him. Already dispirited, Cap broods about how he and Rick are no longer as close as they once were.
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Cap tells Thor and Iron Man that he’s considering giving up his costumed identity, permanently this time, and becomes angry when they try to talk him out of it. Before they can discuss the matter further, though, the mansion is attacked by Solarr and his new partner, Klaw, who have imprisoned the Scarlet Witch, the Black Panther, the Vision, the Swordsman, and Mantis, along with Ambassador Ronald Pershing of Rhodesia, under a dome of solid sound outside. The villains are threatening to roast their hostages unless the Black Panther surrenders the throne of Wakanda to Klaw, after which he intends to declare war on Rhodesia to pay them back for the harsh treatment he suffered there last year. When Klaw proves to be a sonic illusion, Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man search the neighborhood for the real villain, but the Black Panther deduces that he is, in fact, masquerading as Ambassador Pershing. Klaw and Solarr are quickly defeated, but the Black Panther announces that he must take a leave of absence and return to Wakanda for a while. Thor, as current team chairman, grants the request and calls the Avengers to gather to toast their valiant comrade. Unfortunately, their celebration is marred when the Scarlet Witch and the Vision get into an argument about the Swordsman’s assertion that the Vision is trying to steal Mantis away from him. Cap is sick and tired of the Scarlet Witch’s bad attitude of late and the discord it has caused. The atmosphere around the mansion is still a bit tense a day or two later when Captain America joins the others for the Avengers’ fifth annual Christmas charity benefit.
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The Avengers respond when an intruder breaks into the lab where the vintage cryogenic vault is being stored, and they are surprised to find that he is the Whizzer, the super-fast crime-fighter of the 1940s who was a member of the Liberty Legion, the Invaders, and the post-war All-Winners Squad. Cap is frustrated, though, that he doesn’t really remember the Whizzer due to his lingering post-cryogenic amnesia. For his part, the Whizzer is astonished to discover that this Captain America is the original one, having assumed he was another of the impostors who appeared following Cap’s disappearance in early 1945. Growing agitated, the Whizzer claims that the cryogenic vault belongs to him, but the Avengers are dubious until the module opens, revealing a highly radioactive mutant inside. The mutant smashes its way to freedom and disappears into the city. Detecting three radioactive hotspots in the area, the Avengers split up to see which one is the mutant. Captain America and Iron Man find him at a power plant in Queens and note that the mutant has started referring to himself as “Nuklo.” They herd him back to Avengers Mansion, where they are shocked to see their teammates bringing two other Nuklos with them. The three doppelgängers merge into one, tripling his power. He scatters the Avengers with a force blast, but then the Scarlet Witch and the Whizzer arrive on the scene and trap him within a hex sphere that drains his power. As Nuklo loses consciousness, the Whizzer collapses from a massive heart attack. Vision carries him into their headquarters, where Dr. Donald Blake soon arrives to treat him. While Blake is performing open-heart surgery on the elder hero, Scarlet Witch informs her teammates that Nuklo is the son of the Whizzer and his deceased wife, Miss America. More incredibly, she reveals, the couple had taken an extended vacation to Europe after their highly radioactive baby was placed in stasis by the government, and while there, Miss America got pregnant again. She ended up delivering at the High Evolutionary’s Citadel of Science on Wundagore Mountain but died in childbirth. Overcome with grief, the Whizzer fled, leaving newborn twins behind—twins that grew up to become the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Cap is happy that the Scarlet Witch has found her birth parents and hopes that her attitude will now improve. Blake soon reports that the Whizzer should make a full recovery, and the Avengers agree to let him stay at the mansion while he recuperates.
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Later, Cap pays a visit to his former teammate and reports that Nuklo has been returned to suspended animation. The Whizzer is grateful for the Avengers’ help and reminisces about the days following the sudden disappearance of Captain America and Bucky, when the Invaders went on high alert. Cap admits that his memories of the war are fragmentary after being frozen in ice for two decades, though he’s managed to piece together a fair amount of what happened from various news reports and official records. The Whizzer says ruefully that he may as well have been in suspended animation himself all that time, as the death of his wife drove him into an alcohol-fueled depression from which he has only recently emerged. Seeing his old friend is a mere shadow of his former self, Cap doesn’t have the heart to tell the Whizzer that he’s considering abandoning his role as America’s most patriotic superhero.
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<b>Notes:</b>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>January 1966 –</b> Captain America starts off the year with a cameo appearance in <i>Fantastic Four</i> #133. The Avengers’ battles with Magneto and the Lion God span <i>Avengers</i> #110–112, with an additional flashback in <i>Captain America</i> #173. The Lion God is most likely the Nubian god Apedemak, who is related to the Egyptian pantheon. The adventures of Captain America and the Falcon then continue in <i>Captain America</i> #160 and following.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>February 1966 –</b> The Avengers are rescued from Kang and Zarrko by Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Human Torch, and the Inhumans in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #9–11. The Avengers then repair the Statue of Liberty at the beginning of <i>Avengers</i> #113.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>March 1966 –</b> The Avengers save the Vision from the suicide bombers in the rest of <i>Avengers</i> #113. Captain America and Spider-Man then join forces against the Grey Gargoyle and A.I.M. in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #13.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>April 1966 –</b> Mantis and the Swordsman turn up and help the Avengers defeat the Lion God in <i>Avengers</i> #114. Apparently, the Lion God never manages to return from the dimension to which Thor banishes him.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>May 1966 –</b> The Avengers and the Defenders team up to defeat Loki and Dormammu in <i>Avengers</i> #115–118 and <i>Defenders</i> #8–11. Additional information is provided in a flashback in <i>Avengers</i> #157, and the Avengers return home in the first few pages of <i>Avengers</i> #119. The hostile reception Cap receives in Japan is actually part of the global wave of violence caused by the invading demons of Sominus, as seen in <i>Adventure into Fear</i> #14–15.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>June 1966 –</b> The Avengers and Captain Marvel battle the Controller in <i>Captain Marvel</i> #27–30.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>July 1966 –</b> The United Nations places the Avengers on standby as the Elementals terrorize Cairo in <i>Supernatural Thrillers</i> #13. Cap and his teammates remain behind the scenes, though.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>October 1966 –</b> The bulk of <i>Avengers</i> #119 covers the last Rutland, Vermont Halloween Parade story.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>November 1966 –</b> Following the last two panels of <i>Avengers</i> #119, Cap makes a brief appearance in <i>Defenders</i> #13, where his discussion of their victory over Loki and Dormammu is observed by an out-of-phase Nighthawk. Despite being wanted for murder, Cap lends a hand to the Avengers against Zodiac in <i>Avengers</i> #121. Zodiac must set up their Star-Blaster cannon atop the Empire State Building rather than the World Trade Center (as depicted), since the latter towers haven’t been built yet. For more on President Morris N. Richardson, see <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2005/02/omu-potus-part-three.html">OMU: POTUS – Part Three</a>. This brings us up to <i>Captain America</i> #175. The immediate aftermath of President Richardson’s suicide occurs behind the scenes between this issue and the next.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>December 1966 –</b> The Avengers team up with Captain Marvel and his friends to battle Thanos and his space armada in <i>Captain Marvel</i> #31–33 and <i>Avengers</i> #125. Confusingly, three different time periods are mashed together in the first three pages of <i>Avengers</i> #125—Lou-Ann Savannah’s arrival at the mansion (in June), Libra being taken away by the police (in November), and Captain America returning to the Avengers after defeating the Secret Empire (in December). This is clearly done for dramatic effect. Later, Captain America and Iron Man discover Nuklo’s cryogenic vault in a flashback in <i>Giant-Size Avengers</i> #1, then Rick Jones says goodbye in <i>Captain Marvel</i> #34. Klaw and Solarr attack in <i>Avengers</i> #126. Scarlet Witch and Vision’s argument is seen in one of the many flashbacks in <i>Avengers</i> #280. The Avengers then encounter the Whizzer and Nuklo in <i>Giant-Size Avengers</i> #1.
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<i><b>Jump Back:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2017/02/omu-captain-america-year-four.html">Captain America – Year Four</a></i>
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<i><b>Jump To:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2022/02/omu-captain-america-year-six.html">Captain America – Year Six</a></i>
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<i><b>Next Issue:</b> <a href="https://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2019/04/omu-black-panther-year-one.html">Wakanda Forever!</a></i>
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<br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-51441270377154520522019-01-28T10:13:00.010-06:002023-10-27T15:14:15.340-05:00OMU: Thor -- Year FiveOddly enough, the next twelve months in the life of <b>The Mighty Thor</b> are completely skipped over in the thunder god’s own title, leaving his activities during this period to be shown only in <i>The Avengers</i> and through guest-appearances in other comics. As such, Thor has no contact with his Asgardian supporting cast and operates solely as an Earth-based superhero. This also leaves his buddy Hercules and the goddess Krista rather at loose ends for the year. I must assume that Krista remains in the hospital in a coma following the emergency brain surgery she underwent after her rescue from Hades, and Hercules most likely wanders the Earth in search of wine, women, and song before eventually returning to New York City. Thor keeps busy, however, and even serves his second stint as Avengers chairman.
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<b>Note:</b> The following timeline depicts the <b>Original Marvel Universe</b> (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2004/12/the-original-marvel-universe.html">previous posts</a> for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
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Hearken ye to… <b>The True History of the Mighty Thor!</b>
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<b>January 1966 –</b> On the first day of the year, Thor is at Avengers Mansion with Iron Man and Captain America. They discuss news reports of an upcoming grudge match at Shea Stadium between the Thing and a mystery woman called Thundra. Having heard that Thundra kidnapped the Thing’s girlfriend, Alicia Masters, last night as the Fantastic Four watched helplessly, Thor is baffled once again by the ways of mortals. Three days later, the match ends inconclusively when the Thing unexpectedly reverts to his human form. Alicia is released unharmed shortly afterwards, and the public considers the much-hyped “battle of the sexes” to be rather anticlimactic.
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Several days later, Thor is on monitor duty in the Avengers’ communications room when he receives a video transmission from the Great Refuge of the Inhumans. He is surprised to see Quicksilver, alive and well, standing next to Crystal, the Human Torch’s ex-girlfriend and a member of the Inhumans’ royal family. After greeting them, Thor goes at once to the team’s combat-simulation room, where the rest of the Avengers are training. Promising the Scarlet Witch tidings of great joy, Thor leads her and the others back to the communications room. Scarlet Witch is visibly relieved to learn that her twin brother is doing fine and is thrilled to hear that Quicksilver and Crystal have fallen in love after she saved him from the Sentinels’ Australian base last October. However, when the Scarlet Witch declares that she, too, has fallen in love—with the Vision—Quicksilver objects angrily, leading to an argument that makes the rest of the Avengers rather uncomfortable. After Quicksilver hangs up on her, Scarlet Witch starts to cry and the Vision moves in to comfort her. Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, and the Black Panther move to the other end of the room to give the couple some space. Iron Man feels the team may be a bit shorthanded now that they’ve lost both Quicksilver and Hawkeye, but Thor dismisses his concerns. The discussion is cut short when the team receives a transmission from the X-Men’s secret headquarters, which has been trashed in a battle. The mutants’ leader, Professor X, speaks defiantly to the villain who is filming him, but then the screen goes dark. The Avengers agree to seek out the X-Men’s mansion and do what they can to help their fellow superheroes.
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When they arrive at the secluded estate in Westchester County, the Avengers quickly discover Professor X, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, and Iceman in the wreckage, all of whom appear to be comatose. Iron Man carries out a winged man they assume to be the Angel, only to face four rampaging dinosaurs that are under the control of a sort of Pied Piper figure who emerges from the woods. After defeating the dinosaurs, the Avengers try to capture the Piper but are stopped by Magneto, who is wearing the Angel’s black-and-white costume and laughing about how he fooled Iron Man with a pair of false wings. Announcing that he is abducting the X-Men, Magneto grabs the Scarlet Witch and uses his powers to send Iron Man crashing into Captain America, knocking them both out. The villains then escape with their prisoners in the Quinjet while Thor and the Vision are busy keeping the Black Panther from being crushed by boulders. The three remaining Avengers return to the mansion and try to recruit some back-up for a rescue operation. When the Black Knight can’t be reached, they turn next to the Falcon, Spider-Man, and Luke Cage, but none of them can be located. At the Black Panther’s suggestion, they fly out to San Francisco to seek help from Daredevil and the Black Widow. Hawkeye is there as well, but he angrily refuses their request and storms out. Black Widow vents her frustration on the Avengers, and Thor is annoyed by all the unprovoked hostility. Nevertheless, Daredevil and the Black Widow reluctantly agree to lend a hand, and so the five heroes board the Quinjet and head back to New York.
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At Avengers Mansion, Thor discusses the situation with the Black Panther, the Vision, and Daredevil, though the Black Widow seems to have other things on her mind. As the team’s butler, Edwin Jarvis, serves coffee, Black Panther explains to Daredevil how Magneto kidnapped the X-Men as well as Iron Man, Captain America, and the Scarlet Witch. Scanning a newspaper on the table, Daredevil announces that a special conference of the Atomic Energy Commission is being held that very day in a house not 50 miles from New York City. Thor realizes it’s a likely target for Magneto, given his interest in atomic energy and its resulting mutations, so they decide to check it out. When they arrive, though, they are unable to stop Magneto from kidnapping the commissioners, as he has Iron Man, Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, and Iceman under some form of mind control. Black Panther suggests that Magneto must have a lair near the X-Men’s headquarters where he kept the dinosaurs, so they head back to Westchester County to search the area. However, they are concerned by the Vision’s disappearance during the fight and fear he was captured. In the woods behind the X-Men’s mansion, Daredevil somehow detects a large cavern beneath the surface. Thor uses his enchanted hammer, Mjolnir, to smash a tunnel down to the cavern, where they discover Magneto and his hypnotized prisoners. During the ensuing fight, Thor is hit in the head with one of Cyclops’s optic blasts and knocked out cold. When he comes to, Thor finds that Magneto has been defeated and his prisoners released. The others explain that the Vision phased inside the Piper and was able to sneak up behind Magneto and take him out with a karate chop to the back of the neck. Professor X then appears, having also been held prisoner, and puts Magneto into a telepathically induced coma. Taking charge of the defeated villains, the X-Men return to their nearby headquarters, intent on searching for the Angel, whose disappearance remains unexplained. Captain America conveys the Avengers’ thanks to Daredevil and the Black Widow and offers them full membership on the team. Daredevil declines but the Black Widow accepts, causing a rift between them. Daredevil leaves in a huff, and later the Black Panther arranges for a Quinjet to take him back to San Francisco.
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Soon after, a mob of African-American militants pounds on the front door of Avengers Mansion, demanding that the Black Panther come outside. Before the Avengers can react, the mob breaks down the door and opens fire with rifles. Iron Man and Scarlet Witch drive them back, but they continue to chant that the Black Panther must return to Africa, where his people need him. As the situation escalates, a man in a trenchcoat emerges from the crowd and forces the Black Panther to worship him. The man suddenly transforms into a gigantic armored demon who calls himself the “Lion God,” then teleports away with the Black Panther, leaving the mob disoriented and confused. As the crowd disperses, the frustrated Avengers realize the people had been entranced by the Lion God just as the Black Panther was. As Captain America leaves to consult with S.H.I.E.L.D., Thor joins the other Avengers in their conference room for a strategy session. Iron Man asks Thor what he knows of this Lion God, but Thor is forced to admit that the Asgardians generally had little interest in other pantheons, so he cannot even confirm that their foe is truly a god. Suddenly, the Lion God appears, with the Black Panther his helpless prisoner, and attacks them. The demon evades Mjolnir and shocks Thor into unconsciousness with his totem-stick. Luckily, Thor revives a few minutes later and calls down a lightning strike that hits the totem-stick, apparently overloading it and causing a massive explosion. Thor assumes that the Lion God had been destroyed. Black Widow then announces that she has decided to return to San Francisco to work with Daredevil, preferring their partnership to being a member of a large group. Black Panther, however, affirms his commitment to the team and says he plans to remain in New York for a while.
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When not engaged in Avengers business, Thor patrols New York City for crime, trying to avoid his mortal identity as Donald Blake, though it means carrying his hammer around at all times. He generally transforms himself only when Blake needs to check in on the young Asgardian woman Krista, who remains in a coma in a Manhattan hospital. As such, Thor continues to live at Avengers Mansion.
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<b>February 1966 –</b> In the middle of the month, Quicksilver comes to Avengers Mansion to try to talk his sister out of her love affair with the Vision, which proves to be very contentious. Jarvis is serving Sunday brunch to Thor, Captain America, Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, the Black Panther, and the Vision when the entire building is suddenly transported to the 23rd century by Kang the Conqueror. With the element of surprise, Kang is able to knock out everyone in the mansion. Thor awakens sometime later to find himself and his teammates in the shattered remains of a bank of stasis tubes in Kang’s fortress. Iron Man is now among them, obviously having been captured as well. They have been freed by Black Bolt, Gorgon, Karnak, and Triton of the Inhumans, while Kang lies defeated under some rubble nearby. Spider-Man then enters, having captured Thor’s old foe Zarrko the Tomorrow Man. However, as Spider-Man hustles everyone out of the citadel for transport back to the 20th century, they discover that Kang tricked them with a robot double and made good his escape. The voice of the real Kang then mocks them over the loudspeaker. As Zarrko is turned over to the local authorities, Spider-Man explains how he and the Human Torch tracked down and destroyed three chronal-displacement bombs that Zarrko sent back to the 20th century to destroy civilization, after which Black Bolt’s brother, Maximus the Mad, was able to convert one of the bombs into a crude but effective time machine. Suddenly, with a blinding flash of light, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, Vision, Spider-Man, and Jarvis find themselves back on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, standing outside Avengers Mansion. Assuming the Inhumans returned directly to their Great Refuge in the Himalayas, Thor notes that the team owes them a profound debt of gratitude. Feeling slighted, Spider-Man makes a wise-ass remark and swings away. Entering their headquarters, the Avengers find they’ve been gone for two days. Realizing that his arguments are falling on deaf ears, Quicksilver returns to the Inhumans’ hidden city.
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Thor joins Iron Man, Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, the Black Panther, and the Vision when the Avengers are called in by the city to make repairs to the Statue of Liberty, which was heavily damaged by a giant monster a few months ago. A mishap causes the statue’s right hand to break off and plummet toward the Scarlet Witch. Vision swoops in to rescue her as their teammates deal with the falling debris. To the shock of the crowds watching from below, Vision and Scarlet Witch embrace and kiss. By the time the heroes return to Avengers Mansion, news of the romance between the mutant woman and the android man has spread like wildfire. The next day, they receive mountains of mail expressing all manner of views on the relationship, much of it negative. Some of New York’s more obnoxious residents appear at the mansion’s front door, but Iron Man and the Black Panther send them away. After a few days, the hubbub dies down.
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<b>March 1966 –</b> When a gang of neo-Nazis goes around beating up Jews on the street, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, and Vision go out to put a stop to it. The Avengers make short work of the neo-Nazis, but suddenly they are rushed by a suicide bomber who detonates the explosives strapped to her chest and seriously damages the Vision. Cradling the Vision in his arms, Iron Man flies at once to the Long Island laboratories of Stark Industries. Thor follows and, upon arriving, changes back into Donald Blake. He then joins Tony Stark and the Black Panther in a sophisticated laboratory, where they set to work making repairs, guided by the schematics Ant-Man drew up after his explorations of the synthezoid’s interior last year. However, more suicide bombers storm the building, intent on finishing the Vision off. Captain America and the Scarlet Witch are quickly outnumbered, forcing Stark to step out to summon Iron Man to help. When Stark returns several minutes later, he suggests with a wink and a grin that Blake see if he can find Thor. Blake realizes that Stark is aware of his dual identity and has just confirmed Thor’s long-held suspicion that Iron Man and Tony Stark are one and the same man. Amused, Blake finds an empty room nearby and changes back into the god of thunder. Thor quickly uses Mjolnir to generate a whirlwind that carries the remaining four suicide bombers high into the air above the building. Rather than be captured, the bombers detonate their explosives, blowing themselves to smithereens. The Avengers are shocked by such reckless fanaticism. A few minutes later, Stark emerges from the laboratory to announce that the Vision should make a full recovery. Thor is startled when the Scarlet Witch reacts with indignant rage, ranting about the way the Vision has been treated—even by her own brother—despite his many heroic acts. The way she complains about “humans,” apparently oblivious to her own bigotry, worries Thor.
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<b>April 1966 –</b> Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther, and Vision are about to start a search for the missing Scarlet Witch when she suddenly comes striding through the front gate with an Asian woman called Mantis and their old enemy the Swordsman. Thor is intrigued when the Swordsman insists that he’s reformed and petitions to join the team (legitimately this time) as Hawkeye’s replacement. Cap tells the former super-villain to keep dreaming, but the Scarlet Witch objects, accusing Cap of being ruled by his prejudices. Iron Man is forced to concur, pointing out that the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Hawkeye, and the Black Widow were all considered “villains” before getting a shot at redemption. When Thor volunteers to take full responsibility for the Swordsman’s behavior during a probationary period, Cap grudgingly bows to the will of the majority. Iron Man asks Mantis if she wants to join the team too, but she insists she is merely the Swordsman’s companion. Glad to have another woman to talk to, Scarlet Witch assures Mantis that she’s welcome there. Over the next week, the Swordsman accompanies Thor everywhere he goes. They battle two giant fish-men on a beach and later stop a rampaging robot. Thor is mightily impressed with the Swordsman’s skill with his blade, thinking that he rivals even Fandral the Dashing. Thus, Thor recommends that the Swordsman be granted all the privileges of Avengers membership. The team votes to induct him into their ranks and all agree to trust that the Swordsman really has reformed.
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Seeing a news report of Hawkeye and the Hulk on the waterfront battling a giant creature made of electricity, the Avengers discuss the fact that the archer has returned to New York without contacting them, indicating that he really does intend to go his own way from now on. Suddenly, the Lion God smashes into the chamber, apparently abetted by the Swordsman and Mantis. Thor is furious to have been fooled by two traitors but is immediately knocked out by Mantis using her remarkable martial arts skills. When he regains consciousness, Thor learns that the Lion God has been trapped inside an adamantium cylinder that Iron Man installed in the ceiling after the last time their security was breached. Iron Man suggests that Thor send the Lion God into another dimension before he breaks free, and the thunder god uses his enchanted hammer to do so at once. In the aftermath of the battle, Mantis explains that she had sensed a malignant force lurking around the mansion and worked with the Swordsman to lure it out into the open. They then pretended to cooperate with the Lion God, planning all the while to turn the tables on him at the crucial moment. Impressed by the couple’s daring, Thor expresses the team’s profound gratitude. Captain America is clearly still suspicious, but the others agree that, if nothing else, the Swordsman and Mantis have earned the benefit of the doubt.
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<b>May 1966 –</b> Realizing that no one’s heard from the Black Knight in several months, the Avengers decide to return to Garrett Castle in England to check up on him. As soon as their Quinjet enters British airspace, though, they are harassed by S.H.I.E.L.D., which objects to the Swordsman and Mantis, both of whom have criminal records, entering the United Kingdom. Fortunately, the Avengers are able to clear the matter up and soon touch down in a meadow outside the castle. However, they are surprised to discover the entire structure is surrounded by an invisible force field which they are unable to penetrate. Mantis performs some kind of mystic probe and determines that the barrier was erected by Doctor Strange. Suddenly, a large group of ragged, primitive-looking men with medieval weapons streams out of camouflaged holes in the ground and attacks the heroes, knocking them out with crude bombs that release a potent toxic gas. When he comes to, Thor finds he and his teammates being held prisoner in a network of caverns, presumably beneath the Black Knight’s estate. The primitives are upset because the force field is preventing them from looting the castle’s storehouses, which is how they’ve sustained themselves since retreating underground to escape persecution hundreds of years ago. Thor realizes that generations of inbreeding has caused the cave-dwellers to become savage barbarians, but their toxic gas prevents most of his teammates from fighting back. Luckily, Thor, Vision, and Mantis seem immune to its effects, and they hold off a giant insectoid monster long enough for the Black Panther to force their captors to surrender. The Avengers march the defeated barbarians back to the surface, where they call in medical and government aid for the lost tribe. The barbarian king informs the Avengers that the Black Knight was taken away by people in weird costumes before the castle was sealed off by the invisible wall. The heroes decide to head at once to Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum back in New York to ask him about it.
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However, when the Avengers reach the sorcerer’s home in Greenwich Village, they are repelled by a mysterious force. Thor smashes down the front door with his hammer and forces his way inside, where Mantis roughs up Doctor Strange’s butler. They catch of glimpse of the Black Knight in an interior room, having apparently been turned to stone, and assume that Doctor Strange is responsible. Before they can react, though, the Avengers are ejected from the building by hurricane-force winds. Thor rages at the unseen sorcerer, saying they will return when they’ve figured out how to overcome his magic, and then the Avengers go back to their headquarters, seething with indignation. Shortly afterwards, a psychic projection of Loki, still blind, materializes in the mansion to warn the Avengers that Doctor Strange is leading a cabal of super-powered misfits on a quest to obtain the six segments of the legendary weapon known as the Evil Eye of Avalon, which has the power to destroy the world. Joining the mysterious master of black magic is the bestial Hulk, whose hatred for humanity is well known; the savage Sub-Mariner, who has long warred against the human race; the Silver Surfer, the bitter alien imprisoned on Earth; the Valkyrie, who desires revenge for her defeat at the hands of the Avengers a couple years ago; and even their former teammate Hawkeye, who wants to strike back at those he believes betrayed him. Though Thor is not inclined to believe anything his adopted brother says, the other Avengers convince him that they should check it out.
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Thus, Thor flies to Los Angeles, California, while his teammates cover the other five locations provided by Loki. When he arrives, he receives a transmission from the Vision and the Scarlet Witch, reporting that they were attacked in Polynesia by the Silver Surfer, who made off with a segment of the Evil Eye. With Loki’s tale apparently confirmed, Thor commences his search. He soon finds the Hulk ripping up a fountain in front of a ritzy hotel and unearthing one of the segments of the Evil Eye. Swooping down, Thor confronts the Hulk and tries appealing to him as a fellow Avenger. However, Hulk is still harboring some bitterness over the way the Avengers treated him so he punches Thor in the face, sending him crashing into a brick wall. The ensuing brawl lasts for several minutes, causing tremendous property damage, until the two titans find themselves grappling in the demolished street. Their strength evenly matched, they remain rooted to the spot, each one’s muscles straining against the other’s for an hour before their teammates finally show up—Iron Man, Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, the Black Panther, the Vision, the Swordsman, and Mantis, as well as Doctor Strange, the Sub-Mariner, the Silver Surfer, Hawkeye, and the Valkyrie. Thor is shocked to see that this Valkyrie is not the Enchantress after all, as he had been led to believe, but Brunnhilde, the former leader of Odin’s Valkyrior, whom he has not seen in over 900 years. Learning that Loki has indeed played both teams for fools, Thor and the Hulk stand down.
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The Avengers and the Defenders then compare notes and realize that Thor was fighting Loki in Rutland, Vermont, last Halloween at the same time that the Defenders were battling Dormammu there. They speculate that the two arch-villains must have teamed up. Their suspicions are confirmed when the six segments of the Evil Eye are suddenly stolen by Dormammu’s servant Asti the All-Seeing. Despite the best efforts of the assembled heroes, Asti escapes with the segments into another dimension. Almost immediately, the city around them begins to transform into a nightmarish world of horror, the people metamorphosing into monstrous demons. An image of Dormammu’s flaming head appears in the sky, announcing that he is using the Evil Eye to bring Earth into his Dark Dimension, thereby enabling him to conquer the planet without violating his oath to never invade our universe. The Avengers and the Defenders vow to prevent this at any cost. However, the transformed bystanders begin to attack the heroes, forcing them to fight back. Thor helps keep the monsters at bay while Doctor Strange casts a spell to prevent any of the 14 superheroes present from changing into monsters themselves. The sorcerer then tries to convince Captain America that both teams need to take the fight directly to Dormammu in the Dark Dimension. Cap is reluctant to abandon the earth in such a time of crisis but relents when Nick Fury and the forces of S.H.I.E.L.D. arrive on the scene. Leaving Fury and his agents to deal with the monsters, Doctor Strange casts a spell to transport the Avengers and the Defenders into Dormammu’s realm.
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In the weird landscape of the Dark Dimension, Doctor Strange yells at the headstrong Avengers to keep them from blundering to their doom, prompting Thor to order his teammates to defer to the sorcerer’s expertise. Then, after beating off the numberless hordes of the Mindless Ones, the heroes find Dormammu, brandishing the Evil Eye, with Loki imprisoned in a cage of flames. To everyone’s surprise, the Watcher is also present, looking on enigmatically. Doctor Strange manages to breach the mystic barrier separating them, but with one wave of his hand, Dormammu’s augmented magic instantly renders the six Defenders unconscious. Undaunted, Thor leads the Avengers in a desperate charge, but Dormammu turns the ground under their feet into quicksand. Thor, Iron Man, and Scarlet Witch avoid the trap, only for Thor to suddenly find himself forcibly changed into Don Blake as Iron Man’s armor dissolves. Scarlet Witch is stopped in her tracks by a rain of sticky glue, but she manages to raise her arms enough to cast a hex bolt at Dormammu, who is distracted by Loki. The hex causes the Evil Eye to malfunction, and it disintegrates Dormammu, absorbs his mystical energies, and blasts them out again straight through Loki’s brain. Blake instantly becomes Thor again as the other Avengers are released and the Defenders regain consciousness. The Watcher congratulates the 14 heroes on their great victory, noting that, while Loki’s sight has been restored, his mind has been shattered, leaving him with the intellect of an infant. And though Dormammu’s corporeal form has been destroyed, the Watcher warns, he will eventually reintegrate himself with the aid of his many black-hearted worshipers. Doctor Strange then retrieves the Evil Eye and casts a spell that returns the two teams to Los Angeles.
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The Avengers and the Defenders materialize on the same street in L.A. to find the crisis is over. The people who had been transformed into monsters have reverted to normal and are wandering around the rubble-strewn streets in a daze. Thor is glad to have his brother Loki back in his custody again. Nick Fury offers the two teams his congratulations on their victory. However, wishing to keep the existence of the Defenders a secret, Doctor Strange removes all memory of their involvement from Fury and his agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as well as any bystanders who witnessed their presence earlier in the day. Furthermore, he combines the power of the Evil Eye with his own sorcerous might to undo all damage and destruction the world over caused by Dormammu’s scheme, leaving everyone believing they had just suffered a mass hallucination. Finally, after bidding farewell to the Avengers, Strange teleports his team back to his Sanctum Sanctorum to attend to the Black Knight. The Avengers borrow a jet from S.H.I.E.L.D. and return to New York as well. Unfortunately, since they do not arrive in a Quinjet, the Avengers are unable to deactivate their mansion’s rooftop security systems ahead of time. Luckily, Black Panther is able to do it manually. Scarlet Witch complains again about “humans,” and Thor is irked by her attitude. As they enter the mansion, Thor informs Jarvis of Loki’s condition and explains that he will need constant care. Since Loki has been banished from Asgard, Thor asks Jarvis to set him up in Hawkeye’s old bedroom. Thor is extremely wary at first, expecting treachery from his brother, but as time passes, Loki gives no sign of faking his mental disability.
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<b>June–September 1966 –</b> Thor takes Loki on an extended camping trip to the rugged wilderness areas of Norway and Sweden, hoping that more pleasant surroundings will help him heal. Reminded of their childhood together in Asgard, Thor enjoys himself at first and often regales his brother with tales of their youthful adventures. However, the thunder god’s patience wears thin over time as Loki remains in a near-catatonic state.
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<b>October 1966 –</b> Thor brings Loki back to Avengers Mansion and finds that much of the building had to be rebuilt over the summer after being destroyed in a fight with Iron Man’s old foe the Controller, who was apparently in the employ of an alien warlord named Thanos, who intends to conquer the earth. Thor has heard mention of Thanos in Asgard but is confident that when the villain makes his move, the Avengers will defeat him. As the Black Panther’s term as team chairman has ended, Thor agrees to take over those duties.
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On Halloween, Mantis senses mystic emanations that portend great danger in Rutland, Vermont. Remembering the events of previous years, Thor decides they’d better check it out. When they arrive, Tom Fagan, one of the parade’s organizers, asks them to ride on a float sponsored by Marvel Comics. Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, and Black Panther agree, hoping to draw out the source of the unknown danger, but the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, the Swordsman, and Mantis decide not to participate and wander off into the crowd. Two hours later, as the parade is winding down, Thor is frustrated that nothing has happened. Fagan then leads the four heroes through the woods toward his house, only to suddenly reveal that he is the villain in disguise. Catching the Avengers off guard with some magic pellets, he knocks them out and takes them prisoner. When he comes to, Thor discovers that they have been captured by the Collector, but the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, the Swordsman, and Mantis have come to the rescue. The Collector activates two magic stones that produce a swarm of vampire bats that threaten the entire town, hoping to barter for his freedom. However, Mantis kicks the villain in the face and knocks him out, then uses the magic stones to make the bats vanish again. The real Tom Fagan thanks the Avengers for saving the city and offers them any further assistance he can provide. Thor asks Fagan if he would be willing to take over caring for Loki, feeling that Rutland would be a more appropriate setting for his near-catatonic brother. Fagan agrees, so the Avengers return to their Quinjet and fly back to New York. Unfortunately, the Collector escapes as soon as he regains consciousness.
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<b>November 1966 –</b> In the morning, Thor and Captain America fly Loki up to Rutland, Vermont, and meet Tom Fagan at his new house. As Loki wanders around enjoying the scenic vistas, Fagan assures Thor that his brother will be well looked after, as he’s enlisted the help of numerous townspeople. Satisfied that they’ve found the ideal solution, Thor and Cap depart.
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When Jarvis informs Thor that Iron Man has requested assistance battling Doctor Spectrum in Detroit, Michigan, the thunder god flies to the scene at once. When he arrives, though, Thor finds Iron Man, with the villain’s power prism lodged in his chestplate, on a rampage. As soon as Iron Man speaks, Thor can tell by his voice that he’s an impostor and quickly defeats him. Removing his unconscious opponent’s helmet, Thor is surprised to see a black man in the armor. A distraught white woman rushes up and kneels beside them, but Thor is distracted when two police officers bring Doctor Spectrum over. Once the villain is close enough to his power prism, it flies to his hand, enabling him to escape. Thor pursues Doctor Spectrum into the sky and they fight high above Detroit until the real Iron Man arrives on the scene. Iron Man tells Thor that the impostor is a friend of his and is in need of medical attention, so the thunder god drops into a nearby alley and changes into Donald Blake. As he examines the unconscious man, Blake learns that the distraught woman is a friend of Tony Stark’s named Roxanne Gilbert. Two more of Stark’s friends arrive in a taxi, Happy and Pepper Hogan, and identify the patient as former boxer Eddie March. Learning that March has a dangerous blood clot in his brain, Blake decides that he needs immediate surgery to save his life. Fortunately, Iron Man has defeated Doctor Spectrum and turned him over to the police, so there is no further trouble as an ambulance arrives to transport March to the nearest hospital. Blake accompanies him and volunteers to assist the emergency room doctors there. Knowing of Blake’s reputation, the hospital personnel immediately agree.
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A little while later, Tony Stark enters the gallery above the operating theater, and Blake gives him some grim news—March appears to be too weak to survive the surgery. Desperate to save his friend, Stark suggests they use an experimental device called an “enervation intensifier” that brought Happy Hogan back from the brink of death three years ago. Blake is willing to give it a try, so Thor and Iron Man soon fly to Stark Industries’ Long Island facility to fetch the device from a warehouse. Once back in Detroit, Thor resumes his mortal identity while Stark sets up the device in the operating room. Unfortunately, Stark’s worst fears are realized as the enervation intensifier mutates March into a mindless, rampaging freak. In a frenzy, March topples some heavy equipment onto Blake’s walking stick, preventing him from changing back into Thor. Thus, while Iron Man goes after March, Blake directs the hospital staff to prep another operating room. Iron Man soon carries March back in, and Blake is relieved to see that his transformation has worn off. He determines that March has enough residual strength left to undergo surgery. While the delicate procedure is being carried out, Iron Man retrieves the walking stick, knowing it is Mjolnir in disguise. Later, Blake finds Stark in the waiting room and reports that March should recover, though he will likely be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. After conferring with the hospital staff about March’s course of treatment, Blake changes back into Thor and flies home to New York City.
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At Avengers Mansion, Thor is shocked to learn that Captain America has been arrested for murder. Sgt. Damian Link, the team’s new liaison officer with the NYPD, comes to meet with them. However, the Swordsman soon exposes Link as Gemini, one of the twelve leaders of the international crime cartel Zodiac. He manages to evade the Avengers’ attempts to apprehend him until Thor punches him into a wall, leaving the villain extremely disoriented. Unfortunately, Gemini is rescued by the rest of Zodiac—Aquarius, Cancer, Capricorn, Libra, Leo, Pisces, Sagittarius, Taurus, Virgo, and replacements for Aries and Scorpio—using their powerful “Star-Blazer” energy weapon. The criminals escape, but Taurus leaves behind a tape recording that reveals that they plan to use a giant version of the Star-Blazer weapon, the “Star-Blaster,” to kill everyone in Manhattan born under the sign of Gemini, after which they will announce their demands. Thor, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Vision, and Mantis head out to track their foes down, but the Swordsman is too ill to join them. Just before midnight, the Avengers find the Zodiac gang setting up their Star-Blaster cannon on top of the Empire State Building and immediately disable the weapon. Even so, Taurus manages to fire its deadly rays at Mantis, knocking her out. Though Captain America turns up and joins the fray, Aries throws Mantis off the roof. While the Avengers are busy saving her, Zodiac escapes. Captain America assures his teammates he’s been framed but does not accompany them back to the mansion. There, Thor changes into Don Blake and checks Mantis over. He is shocked to discover she seems to be literally healing herself while in a trance. Iron Man asks the Swordsman to tell them more about Mantis, but he knows little about her past before he met her in a bar in Saigon while he was working for a local crime lord called Monsieur Khruul.
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After the Black Panther has joined them, the Avengers spread out over the city to search for Zodiac’s hidden lair. Just before dawn, Thor finds seven members of the cartel meeting with the crooked financier Cornelius Van Lunt in a warehouse in New Jersey and summons the rest of the team to meet him there. The Avengers crash through the window to take their foes by surprise, but Van Lunt slips out during the fight and seals off the warehouse, revealing it to be a deathtrap. Before the Avengers or the seven members of Zodiac can react, Van Lunt launches the building into orbit. Thor tries to smash through the side of the warehouse, only to discover the building is surrounded by the same kind of force field that Zodiac used when they held Manhattan hostage two years ago. Mjolnir passes through the field but then is unable to return to him. Realizing he will change back into Don Blake after sixty seconds, Thor dives behind some crates and hides under a tarp. The other Avengers and Zodiac are confused by the thunder god’s behavior, but Iron Man keeps them away from his hiding place. Scarlet Witch is able to create a momentary weak spot in the field with her mutant hex power, which allows Iron Man to fly out and retrieve the hammer. Before Iron Man can get back inside, though, Libra arrives in Zodiac’s spaceplane, the Star-Cruiser, and rescues them. As soon as the force field is deactivated, Mjolnir returns to Blake’s hand, transforming him into Thor once again. The humiliated thunder god emerges from his hiding place, knowing that friend and foe alike must think he panicked and cowered in fear while bereft of his hammer. Everyone then joins Libra aboard the Star-Cruiser, and he flies them to Van Lunt’s penthouse. There, Van Lunt is revealed to be Taurus, and though he conspired with Capricorn, Gemini, and Virgo to kill off the other members of the cartel, he convinces his erstwhile partners-in-crime to put aside their differences long enough to destroy the Avengers. However, the Avengers win the fight, which ends when the Vision knocks Taurus into his swimming pool. Taurus panics, though, because he can’t swim, but the Vision makes no move to rescue him. Luckily, Mantis charges in at that moment, dives into the water, and hauls Taurus to the surface. Thor is angry with the Vision, but the synthezoid offers no defense, even when the Scarlet Witch presses him on it. Disgusted, Thor demands that Libra explain why he betrayed Taurus and saved them all. Libra admits that it was something of a mistake; he really just wanted to rescue Mantis, having assumed she was with the Avengers—because she is his daughter.
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The Avengers turn the rest of Zodiac over to the police and free Sgt. Damian Link, who had been mind-controlled by the real Gemini, but take Libra back to Avengers Mansion for questioning. There, he explains how he met Mantis’s mother when he was fighting in the First Indochina War as a member of the French Foreign Legion. After a whirlwind romance, they were married, but her brother, the crime lord known as Monsieur Khruul objected to the match and tried to have them killed. Mantis was born while they were on the run. Eventually, Khruul’s assassins caught up to them and killed Libra’s wife, but he and his daughter found refuge in a remote monastery. The monks, who called themselves the Priests of Pama, raised Mantis, teaching her their unique form of martial arts. Finally, Libra admits, he left her there and returned to Europe. Consumed with rage, Mantis attacks Libra, but he subdues her, having learned the same fighting techniques that she did. Suddenly, the Avengers realize that the Swordsman has taken a Quinjet and is heading to Vietnam to take vengeance on Monsieur Khruul. Before they can follow, Iron Man must fly to Van Lunt’s property in New Jersey to retrieve their other Quinjet. When he returns, the Avengers set off, accompanied by Libra.
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When the Avengers arrive at Monsieur Khruul’s villa on the outskirts of Saigon, they find the Swordsman tied to a chair. He admits he broke under torture and told the crime lord about the Priests of Pama and how to find them. Libra then leads the team to the remote monastery, but they arrive too late—all the monks have been slaughtered by Khruul’s assassins. The Avengers defeat the assassins, but Khruul flees deeper into the temple, only to be killed by the Star-Stalker, a dragon-like alien who has come to feed on the planet’s life-energies now that the Priests of Pama can no longer prevent him from doing so. The Star-Stalker shrugs off the Avengers’ initial attack, then spins a cocoon around itself in order to transform into its energy-absorbing form. Black Panther contacts S.H.I.E.L.D. and arranges for them to deliver Zodiac’s Star-Blaster cannon, which the agency has impounded. Unfortunately, when it emerges from its cocoon, the Star-Stalker proves to be impervious to the weapon’s rays. The creature slams Thor and Iron Man into each other, knocking them both out. When he comes to, Thor finds that Mantis and the Vision figured out how to defeat the Star-Stalker and were able to kill it. Leaving the Swordsman to recover in a Saigon hospital, the other Avengers return to New York City, where Libra is turned over to the police. Unwilling to explain what happened to him aboard Zodiac’s warehouse-rocket, Thor decides to move out of Avengers Mansion. As Don Blake, he rents a new apartment elsewhere in the city. Blake realizes that the tension between his two identities has only grown over time and wonders what, if anything, he can do about it.
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<b>December 1966 –</b> Thor goes to Rutland, Vermont, to visit with Loki at Tom Fagan’s house. The god of mischief’s condition appears unchanged. Fagan mentions that the small town is abuzz with the disappearance of a teen-aged boy who was last seen on Halloween, but Thor is convinced that Loki couldn’t have had any involvement. Upon his return to New York, Thor is summoned to Avengers Mansion for a meeting with Captain Marvel and two of his friends, Drax the Destroyer and Moondragon. They are joined by Iron Man, Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, the Black Panther, the Vision, Mantis, and the Swordsman, who is just back from Vietnam. Captain Marvel reports that a hidden colony on Saturn’s moon Titan has been conquered by Thanos, who has now come into possession of the Cosmic Cube and is thus a threat to the entire universe. However, the strategy session is cut short when Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Drax, and Moondragon suddenly vanish into thin air. The Avengers realize they must have been kidnapped by Thanos. Though unable to find any trace of their missing friends, the Avengers learn from the space station Starcore One that an armada of starships is heading toward Earth from the vicinity of Mars—presumably Thanos’s fleet of space pirates that Captain Marvel warned them of. Deciding to intercept the armada before it reaches Earth, the Avengers take their spaceworthy Quinjet and Zodiac’s Star-Cruiser out to meet the threat. As the battle is joined, Thor leaves the Quinjet and smashes into the command deck of the fleet’s flagship, where he takes on an army of armored aliens singlehandedly. The armada still manages to reach Earth, but the aliens suddenly lose their ability to communicate with each other when the Avengers find and destroy their central universal translator. Gaining the upper hand, the Avengers press their attack, and within the hour, the fleet of invading ships has been destroyed, with a handful of survivors in full retreat. Thor returns to the Quinjet, flush with the thrill of victory, and they soon land on the roof of Avengers Mansion.
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Unfortunately, the Avengers quickly discover that Thanos has used the Cosmic Cube to shift the entire planet out of phase to prevent them from interfering with his plans. The space armada, they realize, was merely a distraction meant to lure the Avengers off Earth while Thanos caused the phase-shift. Still, Mantis is able to contact Captain Marvel and tell him what happened. Captain Marvel and Drax the Destroyer then attack Thanos, their fight soon carrying them away from Avengers Mansion as the team watches helplessly. Mantis sets off after them, and a few minutes later, the phase-shift is abruptly cancelled out. Entering their headquarters, the Avengers discover that Iron Man has returned as well, though he’s not sure how he got there. After comparing notes, they track Mantis to a nearby rooftop, where they find her with Captain Marvel and Drax. Captain Marvel has somehow defeated Thanos by smashing the Cosmic Cube, though he and Mantis give only vague and evasive answers to the Avengers’ questions. As Drax flies off into the night sky, Captain Marvel trades interdimensional places with Rick Jones, who accompanies the others back to the mansion. Not long afterward, Thor’s help is requested after Iron Man and Captain America discover a vintage cryogenic vault in the rubble of a collapsed government research building. He and the Vision carry the bulky device into one of the labs in the basement of Avengers Mansion, where Iron Man decides to have some technicians from Stark Industries examine it after the holidays. Rick then says goodbye to the Avengers and heads off on a 15-city concert tour as part of the opening act for a more famous band. Thor wishes him good fortune.
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Thor and Iron Man are concerned when the disillusioned Captain America says he’s considering giving up his costumed identity, permanently this time. Before they can discuss it further, though, the mansion is attacked by Klaw and his new partner, Solarr, who have imprisoned the Scarlet Witch, the Black Panther, the Vision, the Swordsman, and Mantis, along with Ambassador Ronald Pershing of Rhodesia, under a dome of solid sound outside. The villains are threatening to roast their hostages unless the Black Panther surrenders the throne of Wakanda to Klaw, after which he intends to declare war on Rhodesia to pay them back for the harsh treatment he suffered there last year. When Klaw proves to be a sonic illusion, Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America search the neighborhood for the real villain, but the Black Panther deduces that he is, in fact, masquerading as Ambassador Pershing. Klaw and Solarr are quickly defeated, but the Black Panther announces that he must take a leave of absence and return to Wakanda for a while. Thor grants the request and calls the Avengers to gather to toast their valiant comrade. Unfortunately, their celebration is marred when the Scarlet Witch and the Vision get into an argument about the Swordsman’s assertion that the Vision is trying to steal Mantis away from him. Thor is disturbed by the Scarlet Witch’s bad attitude of late and the dissension it has caused. The atmosphere around the mansion is still a bit tense a day or two later when Thor joins the others for the Avengers’ Fifth Annual Christmas Charity Benefit.
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The Avengers respond when an intruder breaks into the lab where the vintage cryogenic vault is being stored, and they are surprised to find that he is the Whizzer, the super-fast crime-fighter of the 1940s who was a member of the Liberty Legion, the Invaders, and the post-war All-Winners Squad. Thor vaguely remembers meeting the Whizzer when he encountered the Invaders during World War II. The Whizzer claims that the cryogenic vault belongs to him, but the Avengers are dubious until the module opens, revealing a highly radioactive mutant inside. The mutant smashes its way to freedom and disappears into the city. Detecting three radioactive hotspots in the area, the Avengers split up to see which one is the mutant. Thor and Mantis find him on some elevated tracks in Brooklyn and note that the mutant has started referring to himself as “Nuklo.” After a near-disastrous encounter with a speeding express train, Thor and Mantis are able to herd Nuklo back to Avengers Mansion, where they are shocked to see their teammates bringing two other Nuklos with them. The three doppelgängers merge into one, tripling his power. He scatters the Avengers with a force blast, but then the Scarlet Witch and the Whizzer arrive on the scene and trap him within a hex sphere that drains his power. As Nuklo loses consciousness, the Whizzer collapses from a massive heart attack. Vision carries him into the team’s medical bay while Thor transforms into Don Blake to perform open-heart surgery on the elder hero. When the procedure is completed successfully, Blake reports to the Avengers that the Whizzer should make a full recovery. Later, Thor learns from the Scarlet Witch that Nuklo is the son of the Whizzer and his deceased wife, Miss America. More incredibly, the couple had taken an extended vacation to Europe after their highly radioactive baby was placed in stasis by the government, and while there, Miss America got pregnant again. She ended up delivering at the High Evolutionary’s Citadel of Science on Wundagore Mountain but died in childbirth. Overcome with grief, the Whizzer fled, leaving newborn twins behind—twins that grew up to become the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Thor is happy that the Scarlet Witch has found her birth parents and hopes that her attitude will now improve. Before stepping down as team chairman, Thor grants permission for the Whizzer to stay at the mansion while he recuperates.
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<b>Notes:</b>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>January 1966 –</b> Thor starts off the year with a cameo appearance in <i>Fantastic Four</i> #133. The Avengers’ battles with Magneto and the Lion God span <i>Avengers</i> #110–112, with a detour into <i>Daredevil</i> #99 and an additional flashback in <i>Captain America</i> #173. The Lion God is most likely the Nubian god Apedemak, who is related to the Egyptian pantheon.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>February 1966 –</b> The Avengers are rescued from Kang and Zarrko by Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Human Torch, and the Inhumans in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #9–11. The Avengers then repair the Statue of Liberty at the beginning of <i>Avengers</i> #113.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>March 1966 –</b> The Avengers save the Vision from the suicide bombers in the rest of <i>Avengers</i> #113, during which Don Blake and Tony Stark confirm that they have figured out each other’s secret identities. Interestingly, they don’t share this information with their teammates, whose real names are known to both of them.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>April 1966 –</b> Mantis and the Swordsman turn up and help the Avengers defeat the Lion God in <i>Avengers</i> #114. Apparently, the Lion God never manages to return from the dimension to which Thor banishes him.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>May 1966 –</b> The Avengers and the Defenders team up to defeat Loki and Dormammu in <i>Avengers</i> #115–118 and <i>Defenders</i> #8–11. Additional information is provided in a flashback in <i>Avengers</i> #157, and the Avengers return home in the first few pages of <i>Avengers</i> #119.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>June–September 1966 –</b> Thor and Loki’s camping trip to the Scandinavian wilderness occurs behind the scenes, but they appear to be absent from Avengers Mansion during the events of <i>Captain Marvel</i> #27–30.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>October 1966 –</b> The bulk of <i>Avengers</i> #119 covers the last Rutland, Vermont Halloween Parade story.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>November 1966 –</b> Whether due to his own machinations or lingering magic <a href="http://thewastebasket.blogspot.com/2009/11/it-happened-in-rutland.html" target="_blank">left behind by Felix Faust</a>, Loki regains his sanity almost immediately after Thor has left Rutland and realizes he has absorbed Dormammu’s mystical essence. Finding a teen-aged boy sleeping off last night’s revelries, Loki transforms him into a copy of his brain-damaged self. Then, leaving the impostor in his place, Loki retreats to the Dark Dimension to plot his revenge on Thor, as revealed in <i>Thor</i> #232. Thor, of course, is as yet unaware of these events. The thunder god helps Iron Man defeat Doctor Spectrum and saves the life of Eddie March in <i>Iron Man</i> #65–67. The Avengers then battle Zodiac, encounter Monsieur Khruul, and save the world from the Star-Stalker in <i>Avengers</i> #120–124. Zodiac must set up their Star-Blaster cannon atop the Empire State Building rather than the World Trade Center (as depicted), since the latter towers haven’t been built yet.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>December 1966 –</b> The Avengers team up with Captain Marvel and his friends to battle Thanos and his space armada in <i>Captain Marvel</i> #31–33 and <i>Avengers</i> #125. Later, Thor and Vision help move Nuklo’s cryogenic vault in a flashback in <i>Giant-Size Avengers</i> #1, then Rick Jones says goodbye in <i>Captain Marvel</i> #34. Klaw and Solarr attack in <i>Avengers</i> #126. Scarlet Witch and Vision’s argument is seen in one of the many flashbacks in <i>Avengers</i> #280. The Avengers then encounter the Whizzer and Nuklo in <i>Giant-Size Avengers</i> #1. Thor’s first encounter with the Whizzer and his wartime team is chronicled in <i>Invaders</i> #32–33.
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<i><b>Jump To:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2022/08/omu-thor-year-six.html">The Mighty Thor – Year Six</a></i>
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<i><b>Jump Back:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2017/04/omu-thor-year-four.html">The Mighty Thor – Year Four</a></i>
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<i><b>Next Issue:</b> <a href="https://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2019/03/omu-captain-america-year-five.html">Captain America – Year Five</a></i>
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<br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-31243684829904605152018-12-20T10:13:00.027-06:002023-10-24T12:15:50.600-05:00OMU: Iron Man -- Year FiveIn the fifth year of his career as <b>Iron Man</b>, Tony Stark’s heart finally heals to the point where he can discontinue use of the life-support system in his armor and resume something of a normal life. Rather than giving up his superhero identity, though, he seems to embrace it fully and clearly enjoys being a man of action. Throughout the year, he acts as a core member of the Avengers while steering Stark Industries into a period of rapid growth. The return of his closest friends, Happy and Pepper, adds to Tony’s sense of contentment, which world-threatening battles with villains such as Loki, Dormammu, and Thanos cannot shake.
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<b>Note:</b> The following timeline depicts the <b>Original Marvel Universe</b> (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2004/12/the-original-marvel-universe.html">previous posts</a> for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
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Now resuming… <b>The True History of the Invincible Iron Man!</b>
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<b>January 1966 –</b> On the first day of the year, Iron Man starts a new term as Avengers chairman. While at the team’s headquarters, he, Thor, and Captain America discuss news reports of an upcoming grudge match at Shea Stadium between the Thing and a mystery woman called Thundra. Having heard that Thundra kidnapped the Thing’s girlfriend, Alicia Masters, last night as the Fantastic Four watched helplessly, Iron Man wonders if the Thing will be able to win the fight. Three days later, the match ends inconclusively when the Thing unexpectedly reverts to his human form. Alicia is released unharmed shortly afterwards, and the public considers the much-hyped “battle of the sexes” to be rather anticlimactic.
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Several days later, Iron Man is sparring with the Black Panther in the Avengers’ combat-simulation room as their teammates look on. Suddenly, Thor enters and summons the Scarlet Witch to the communications room, promising her tidings of great joy. The Avengers are pleased to find Quicksilver calling from the Great Refuge of the Inhumans. Standing next to him on the large viewscreen is Crystal, the Human Torch’s ex-girlfriend and a member of the Inhumans’ royal family. Scarlet Witch is visibly relieved to learn that her twin brother is alive and well and is thrilled to hear that Quicksilver and Crystal have fallen in love after she saved him from the Sentinels’ Australian base last October. However, when the Scarlet Witch declares that she, too, has fallen in love—with the Vision—Quicksilver objects angrily, leading to an argument that makes the rest of the Avengers rather uncomfortable. After Quicksilver hangs up on her, Scarlet Witch starts to cry and the Vision moves in to comfort her. Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and Black Panther move to the other end of the room to give the couple some space. Iron Man feels the team may be a bit shorthanded now that they’ve lost both Quicksilver and Hawkeye, but Thor dismisses his concerns. The discussion is cut short when the team receives a transmission from the X-Men’s secret headquarters, which has been trashed in a battle. The mutants’ leader, Professor X, speaks defiantly to the villain who is filming him, but then the screen goes dark. The Avengers agree to seek out the X-Men’s mansion and do what they can to help their fellow superheroes.
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When they arrive at the secluded estate in Westchester County, the Avengers quickly discover Professor X, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, and Iceman in the wreckage, all of whom appear to be comatose. Iron Man carries out a winged man he assumes is the Angel, only to face four rampaging dinosaurs that are under the control of a sort of Pied Piper figure who emerges from the woods. After defeating the dinosaurs, the Avengers try to capture the Piper, but are stopped by Magneto, who is wearing the Angel’s black-and-white costume and laughing about how he fooled Iron Man with a pair of false wings. Announcing that he is abducting the X-Men, Magneto grabs the Scarlet Witch and uses his powers to send Iron Man crashing into Captain America, knocking them both out. When he regains consciousness later in the villain’s lair, Iron Man realizes Magneto has him and the others under some form of magnetically induced mind control. Fortunately, however, Thor, the Black Panther, and the Vision seem to have escaped capture, and Iron Man remains confident that they will soon come to the rescue. Nevertheless, Iron Man is unable to resist when Magneto orders his new slaves aboard the stolen Quinjet and then flies them to another remote mansion where a meeting of the Atomic Energy Commission is being held. After easily defeating the Secret Service agents on the scene, the entranced heroes march the commissioners to the Quinjet. Thor, Black Panther, and Vision charge in, accompanied by the Black Widow and Daredevil, but they fail to prevent Magneto from kidnapping the commissioners. Thor pursues Magneto’s airship but is forced to disengage when Iron Man dangles Captain America out of the hatch. Iron Man is frustrated at being used like a puppet, but try as he might, he cannot break free of Magneto’s control.
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In his subterranean headquarters, Magneto rants and raves to the commissioners about his plan to inundate the world with radiation, thereby killing off 92% of the human race and turning the few survivors into mutants that he can rule. As the villain concentrates on taking over the minds of the commissioners, Iron Man is relieved when Thor, Black Panther, Black Widow, and Daredevil come crashing into the installation, though he and his fellow captives are forced to attack them. Magneto merely seems to find the battle amusing, and when he easily brings the Black Widow under his control, Iron Man gets worried. However, the Piper calmly walks up behind Magneto and knocks him out with a karate chop to the back of the neck. To Iron Man’s surprise, Vision then phases out of the Piper’s body, explaining that he used his ability to alter his density to effect his own form of mind control. Professor X then places Magneto into a telepathically induced coma, freeing Iron Man and the others from the villain’s mental domination. The Professor is concerned when Iron Man notes that they found no trace of the Angel in the wrecked mansion, as his disappearance remains unexplained. The X-Men then take the unconscious Magneto and Piper back to their nearby headquarters. Grateful for the couple’s help, Captain America offers the Black Widow and Daredevil full membership in the Avengers. Daredevil declines but the Black Widow accepts, causing a rift between them. As Daredevil leaves in a huff, Iron Man sees an opportunity to move in on the Black Widow.
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Back at Avengers Mansion, Iron Man is hitting on the Black Widow when a mob of African-American militants pounds on the front door, demanding that the Black Panther come outside. Before the Avengers can react, the mob breaks down the door and opens fire with rifles. Iron Man and Scarlet Witch drive them back, but they continue to chant that the Black Panther must return to Africa, where his people need him. As the situation escalates, a man in a trenchcoat emerges from the crowd and forces the Black Panther to worship him. The man suddenly transforms into a gigantic armored demon who calls himself the “Lion God,” then teleports away with the Black Panther, leaving the mob disoriented and confused. As the crowd disperses, the frustrated Avengers realize the people had been entranced by the Lion God just as the Black Panther was. As Captain America leaves to consult with S.H.I.E.L.D., Iron Man leads the other Avengers to their conference room for a strategy session. However, it’s not long before the Lion God appears, with the Black Panther his helpless prisoner, and attacks them. After quickly taking out Thor and the Vision, the Lion God causes two lions to materialize and sets them on the rest of the team. Iron Man leaps to the Black Widow’s defense, knocking out one of the lions with a repulsor beam. However, the Lion God shoots him in the back with a blast of energy from his totem-stick, taking the Golden Avenger out of the fight. When he comes to, Iron Man finds that Thor managed to defeat the Lion God by blowing up his totem-stick with a lightning strike, which caused their foe to vanish in a burst of blinding light. Thor assumes the Lion God has been destroyed, but Iron Man isn’t convinced and decides to install some additional security devices throughout the mansion. He is very disappointed, though, when the Black Widow announces that she has decided to return to San Francisco to work with Daredevil, preferring their partnership to being a member of a large group.
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When he’s not acting as Iron Man, Tony Stark works long hours at Stark Industries’ headquarters on Long Island, struggling to guide his company through a difficult transition to manufacturing and marketing non-lethal technologies. Tony also makes efforts to change the public’s perceptions of him, no longer wishing to be known as the world’s foremost arms dealer.
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<b>February 1966 –</b> On a Sunday morning in the middle of the month, Iron Man flies to Avengers Mansion when the building appears to be the epicenter of an earthquake. When he arrives, though, he finds the mansion completely surrounded by an impenetrable force field. His repulsor rays are having little effect on the field when Spider-Man turns up, ready to lend a hand. Iron Man initially rebuffs Spidey’s offer, but when a hole seems to open in the field, the two heroes leap through it. However, they suddenly find themselves falling through a strange dimension, where they are picked up by a spaceship. The pilot introduces himself as Zarrko and recruits the two heroes to help him save the 23rd century from an invasion by an army from even further in the future. When the ship materializes in Zarrko’s time period, Iron Man is surprised to find the Empire State Building is still standing. Zarrko drops them off at a fortified citadel a few blocks away, and Iron Man and Spider-Man fight their way inside, only to discover Thor, Captain America, Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, the Black Panther, and the Vision, as well as their butler, Edwin Jarvis, being held prisoner by Kang the Conqueror. Kang immobilizes Iron Man and Spider-Man with a paralysis ray just as Zarrko enters the chamber. Rather than help the heroes, though, Zarrko brags to Kang about his plan to conquer the 20th century for himself and replace Kang as the master of time. Learning that Zarrko has sent back in time three chronal-displacement bombs to strike in Greece, Japan, and Venezuela in order to destroy civilization, Spider-Man manages to shake off the effects of the paralysis ray and creep out of the chamber to find Kang’s time machine so he can stop the evil scheme. Unfortunately, Iron Man’s armor was damaged in the fight against Kang’s guards, forcing him to remain behind. When the villains realize that Spider-Man has escaped, Kang places Iron Man in a stasis tube alongside his teammates. As the tube is activated, Iron Man fades into unconsciousness.
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Iron Man is revived when the entire bank of stasis tubes is shattered by a concussive blast, freeing the Avengers. They find that Spider-Man has managed to recruit Black Bolt, Gorgon, Karnak, and Triton of the royal family of the Inhumans for a rescue mission, and Kang and Zarrko have already been defeated. However, as Spider-Man hustles everyone out of the citadel for transport back to the 20th century, they discover that Kang tricked them with a robot double and made good his escape. The voice of the real Kang then mocks them over the loudspeaker. As Zarrko is turned over to the local authorities, Spider-Man explains how he and the Human Torch tracked down and destroyed the three chronal-displacement bombs, after which Black Bolt’s brother, Maximus the Mad, was able to convert one of the bombs into a crude but effective time machine. Suddenly, with a blinding flash of light, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, Vision, Spider-Man, and Jarvis find themselves back on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, standing outside Avengers Mansion. Assuming the Inhumans returned directly to their Great Refuge in the Himalayas, Thor notes that the team owes them a profound debt of gratitude. Feeling slighted, Spider-Man makes a wise-ass remark and swings away, but Iron Man is impressed with the young hero’s resourcefulness. Returning to their headquarters, the Avengers find they’ve been gone for two days. Quicksilver, it turns out, had merely come to New York to try to talk his sister out of her love affair with their synthezoid teammate, and when his efforts fail, he returns to the Inhumans’ hidden city.
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Iron Man joins Thor, Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, the Black Panther, and the Vision when the Avengers are called in by the city to make repairs to the Statue of Liberty, which was heavily damaged by a giant monster a few months ago. A mishap causes the statue’s right hand to break off and plummet toward the Scarlet Witch. Vision swoops in to rescue her as their teammates deal with the falling debris. To the shock of the crowds watching from below, Vision and Scarlet Witch embrace and kiss. By the time the heroes return to Avengers Mansion, news of the romance between the mutant woman and the android man has spread like wildfire. The next day, they receive mountains of mail expressing all manner of views on the relationship, much of it confirming Iron Man’s worries that the public would find it bizarre and off-putting. Some of New York’s more obnoxious residents appear at the mansion’s front door, but Iron Man and the Black Panther send them away. After a few days, the hubbub dies down.
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<b>March 1966 –</b> When a gang of neo-Nazis goes around beating up Jews on the street, Iron Man leads Thor, Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, the Black Panther, and the Vision to put a stop to it. The Avengers make short work of the neo-Nazis, but suddenly they are rushed by a suicide bomber who detonates the explosives strapped to her chest and seriously damages the Vision. Cradling the Vision in his arms, Iron Man flies at once to the Long Island laboratories of Stark Industries, where he quickly changes back to Tony Stark. He is soon joined by the Black Panther and Dr. Donald Blake, and they set to work making repairs, guided by the schematics Ant-Man drew up after his explorations of the synthezoid’s interior last year. However, more suicide bombers storm the building, intent on finishing the Vision off. Captain America and the Scarlet Witch are quickly outnumbered, forcing Tony to step out, don his armor again, and lend a hand as Iron Man. Seeing one of the bombers is about to detonate his explosives right behind Captain America, Iron Man grabs the man and flies him straight up into the sky. To Tony’s horror, the man blows himself up anyway. Unfazed by the blast, Tony returns to the laboratory and suggests that Blake go find Thor, managing to confirm his suspicion that the frail physician and the mighty thunder god are somehow one and the same man. Tony also sends the Black Panther out to join the battle, confident that he can finish the procedure on his own. After hearing a few more explosions outside, Tony finally emerges from the lab and announces that the Vision should make a full recovery. He is startled when the Scarlet Witch reacts with indignant rage, ranting about the way the Vision has been treated—even by her own brother—despite his many heroic acts. Tony is disturbed by the way she complains about “humans,” apparently oblivious to her own bigotry. Unfortunately, all the suicide bombers have blown themselves up, preventing the Avengers from learning anything more about their motives. Finally, at the end of the month, Iron Man completes his term as team chairman and hands the gavel off to Captain America.
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<b>April 1966 –</b> Iron Man and Captain America certify the Vision as fit for active duty after a series of tests in the mansion’s combat-simulation room. Afterwards, Iron Man is annoyed when the Scarlet Witch allows their old enemy the Swordsman to enter their headquarters with his girlfriend, a Vietnamese beauty called Mantis. The Swordsman insists that he’s reformed and petitions to join the team (legitimately this time) as Hawkeye’s replacement. Cap tells the former super-villain to keep dreaming, but the Scarlet Witch objects, accusing Cap of being ruled by his prejudices. Iron Man is forced to concur, pointing out that the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Hawkeye, and the Black Widow were all considered “villains” before getting a shot at redemption. When Thor volunteers to take full responsibility for the Swordsman’s behavior during a probationary period, Cap grudgingly bows to the will of the majority. Iron Man asks Mantis if she wants to join the team too, but she insists she is merely the Swordsman’s companion. Glad to have another woman to talk to, Scarlet Witch assures Mantis that she’s welcome there, and Iron Man certainly doesn’t object to having another sexy woman hanging around. After a week of working closely together, Thor recommends that the Swordsman be granted all the privileges of Avengers membership. The team votes to induct him into their ranks and all agree to trust that the Swordsman really has reformed.
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Seeing a news report of Hawkeye and the Hulk on the waterfront battling a giant creature made of electricity, the Avengers discuss the fact that the archer has returned to New York without contacting them, indicating that he really does intend to go his own way from now on. Suddenly, the Lion God smashes into the chamber, apparently abetted by the Swordsman and Mantis. Iron Man is furious to have been fooled by two traitors and is astonished when Mantis takes out Thor with her martial arts skills. Unfortunately, he is then knocked out cold by a blast of energy from the Lion God’s hunting spear. When he regains consciousness, Iron Man sees that the Swordsman and Mantis have mesmerized the Lion God to prevent him from burning the Black Panther at the stake. Seizing his chance, Iron Man triggers an adamantium containment cell, which drops onto the Lion God, trapping him. This gives Thor a chance to use his enchanted hammer to send their foe into another dimension. In the aftermath of the battle, Mantis explains that she had sensed a malignant force lurking around the mansion and worked with the Swordsman to lure it out into the open. They then pretended to cooperate with the Lion God, planning all the while to turn the tables on him at the crucial moment. Impressed by the couple’s daring, Thor expresses the team’s profound gratitude. Captain America is clearly still suspicious, but Iron Man decides that, if nothing else, they’ve earned the benefit of the doubt.
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<b>May 1966 –</b> Realizing that no one’s heard from the Black Knight in several months, the Avengers decide to return to Garrett Castle in England to check up on him. As soon as their Quinjet enters British airspace, though, they are harassed by S.H.I.E.L.D., which objects to the Swordsman and Mantis, both of whom have criminal records, entering the United Kingdom. Fortunately, the Avengers are able to clear the matter up and soon touch down in a meadow outside the castle. However, they are surprised to discover the entire structure is surrounded by an invisible force field which they are unable to penetrate. Mantis performs some kind of mystic probe and determines that the barrier was erected by Doctor Strange. Suddenly, a large group of ragged, primitive-looking men with medieval weapons streams out of camouflaged holes in the ground and attacks the heroes, knocking them out with crude bombs that release a potent toxic gas. When he comes to, Iron Man finds he and his teammates being held prisoner in a network of caverns, presumably beneath the Black Knight’s estate. The primitives are upset because the force field is preventing them from looting the castle’s storehouses, which is how they’ve sustained themselves since retreating underground to escape persecution hundreds of years ago. Iron Man realizes that generations of inbreeding has caused the cave-dwellers to become savage barbarians, but their toxic gas prevents him and most of his teammates from fighting back. Luckily, Thor, Vision, and Mantis seem immune to its effects, and they hold off a giant insectoid monster long enough for the Black Panther to force their captors to surrender. The Avengers march the defeated barbarians back to the surface, where they call in medical and government aid for the lost tribe. The barbarian king informs the Avengers that the Black Knight was taken away by people in weird costumes before the castle was sealed off by the invisible wall. The heroes decide to head at once to Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum back in New York to ask him about it.
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However, when the Avengers reach the sorcerer’s home in Greenwich Village, they are repelled by a mysterious force that Iron Man assumes must be some form of repulsor-ray technology. Thor forces his way inside, where Mantis roughs up Doctor Strange’s butler. They catch of glimpse of the Black Knight in an interior room, having apparently been turned to stone, and assume that Doctor Strange is responsible. Before they can react, though, the Avengers are ejected from the building by hurricane-force winds. Thor rages at the unseen sorcerer, saying they will return when they’ve figured out how to overcome his magic, and then the Avengers go back to their headquarters, seething with indignation. Shortly afterwards, a psychic projection of Loki materializes in the mansion to warn the Avengers that Doctor Strange is leading a cabal of super-powered misfits on a quest to obtain the six segments of the legendary weapon known as the Evil Eye of Avalon, which has the power to destroy the world. Joining the mysterious master of black magic is the bestial Hulk, whose hatred for humanity is well known; the savage Sub-Mariner, who has long warred against the human race; the Silver Surfer, the bitter alien imprisoned on Earth; the Valkyrie, who desires revenge for her defeat at the hands of the Avengers a couple years ago; and even their former teammate Hawkeye, who wants to strike back at those he believes betrayed him. Though Thor is not inclined to believe anything his adopted brother says, the other Avengers convince him that they should check it out.
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Thus, Iron Man flies to Monterrey, Mexico, while his teammates cover the other five locations provided by Loki. En route, he receives a transmission from the Vision and the Scarlet Witch, reporting that they were attacked in Polynesia by the Silver Surfer, who made off with a segment of the Evil Eye. With Loki’s tale apparently confirmed, Iron Man arrives at his destination and heads to the Instituto Technológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, reasoning that if the Evil Eye segment had been found, it would have been turned over to the local research university for study. His theory is proven correct as he finds the object has been in the care of a local archeology professor for a few years. They are examining the segment when Hawkeye snatches it with one of his trick arrows. Iron Man goes after Hawkeye, only to get hit with a new-and-improved blast arrow. Iron Man berates his erstwhile teammate, saying he regrets ever sponsoring his membership in the Avengers, but Hawkeye dismisses his tirade as crazy talk. After damaging Iron Man’s helmet with an acid-arrow, Hawkeye uses an arrow with a powerful magnetic field to make one of Iron Man’s repulsor-ray blasts go wild. While the Golden Avenger is busy saving students from falling debris, Hawkeye slips away with the Evil Eye segment. Iron Man is still searching for the archer when a Quinjet lands, bringing Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, and a wounded Swordsman. With them is the Sub-Mariner, who has convinced Cap that both teams have been played for fools by Loki.
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After picking up the Black Panther and Mantis in Indiana, the Quinjet flies to Greenwich Village, where the Sub-Mariner leads the Avengers into the Sanctum Sanctorum without incident. In a well-appointed sitting room, they find Doctor Strange, the Silver Surfer, the Valkyrie, and Hawkeye, who are shocked and enraged by the intrusion. Iron Man notices the Black Knight, turned to stone, standing in a corner of the room. Sub-Mariner informs his teammates that Loki told the Avengers that their team, which they call the Defenders, was out to conquer the world. Valkyrie assures the Avengers that they sought out the Evil Eye so they could use its mystical power to release the Black Knight from the petrification spell placed on him by the Enchantress. Iron Man is confused, since he’d been told that the Valkyrie was merely an illusion the Enchantress used to disguise herself, but such matters are explained as the two teams get to know each other better over the next half hour. Iron Man also has the chance to apologize to Hawkeye for some of the things he said to him in Mexico. Finally, Iron Man realizes that Thor and the Hulk are still out on the battlefield and could be laying waste to Los Angeles at that very moment. Thus, Doctor Strange weaves a spell that teleports everyone out to California.
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There, they find Thor and the Hulk locked in a stalemate, each one’s super-strong muscles straining against the other’s as they grapple, but Doctor Strange convinces them to stand down. The Avengers and the Defenders then compare notes and realize that Thor was fighting Loki in Rutland, Vermont, last Halloween at the same time that the Defenders were battling Dormammu there. They speculate that the two arch-villains must have teamed up. Their suspicions are confirmed when the six segments of the Evil Eye are suddenly stolen by Dormammu’s servant Asti the All-Seeing. Despite the best efforts of the assembled heroes, Asti escapes with the segments into another dimension. Almost immediately, the city around them begins to transform into a nightmarish world of horror, the people metamorphosing into monstrous demons. An image of Dormammu’s flaming head appears in the sky, announcing that he is using the Evil Eye to bring Earth into his Dark Dimension, thereby enabling him to conquer the planet without violating his oath to never invade our universe. The Avengers and the Defenders vow to prevent this at any cost. However, the transformed bystanders begin to attack the heroes, forcing them to fight back. Iron Man helps keep the monsters at bay while Doctor Strange casts a spell to prevent any of the 14 superheroes present from changing into monsters themselves. The sorcerer then tries to convince Captain America that both teams need to take the fight directly to Dormammu in the Dark Dimension. Cap is reluctant to abandon the earth in such a time of crisis but relents when Nick Fury and the forces of S.H.I.E.L.D. arrive on the scene. Leaving Fury and his agents to deal with the monsters, Doctor Strange casts a spell to transport the Avengers and the Defenders into Dormammu’s realm.
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In the weird landscape of the Dark Dimension, Doctor Strange yells at the headstrong Avengers to keep them from blundering to their doom, prompting Thor to order his teammates to defer to the sorcerer’s expertise. Then, after beating off the numberless hordes of the Mindless Ones, the heroes find Dormammu, brandishing the Evil Eye, with Loki imprisoned in a cage of flames. To everyone’s surprise, the Watcher is also present, looking on enigmatically. Doctor Strange manages to breach the mystic barrier separating them, but with one wave of his hand, Dormammu’s augmented magic instantly renders the six Defenders unconscious. Undaunted, Thor leads the Avengers in a desperate charge, but Dormammu turns the ground under their feet into quicksand. Iron Man, Thor, and Scarlet Witch avoid the trap, only for Iron Man’s armor to suddenly dissolve as Thor is forcibly changed into Donald Blake. Scarlet Witch is stopped in her tracks by a rain of sticky glue, but she manages to raise her arms enough to cast a hex bolt at Dormammu, who is distracted by Loki. The hex causes the Evil Eye to malfunction, and it disintegrates Dormammu, absorbs his mystical energies, and blasts them out again straight through Loki’s brain. Iron Man’s armor suddenly reappears as the other Avengers are released and the Defenders regain consciousness. The Watcher congratulates the 14 heroes on their great victory, noting that, while Loki’s sight has been restored, his mind has been shattered, leaving him with the intellect of an infant. And though Dormammu’s corporeal form has been destroyed, the Watcher warns, he will eventually reintegrate himself with the aid of his many black-hearted worshipers. Doctor Strange then retrieves the Evil Eye and casts a spell that returns the two teams to Los Angeles.
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The Avengers and the Defenders materialize on the same street in L.A. to find the crisis is over. The people who had been transformed into monsters have reverted to normal and are wandering around the rubble-strewn streets in a daze. Nick Fury offers the two teams his congratulations on their victory. However, wishing to keep the existence of the Defenders a secret, Doctor Strange removes all memory of their involvement from Fury and his agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as well as any bystanders who witnessed their presence earlier in the day. Furthermore, he combines the power of the Evil Eye with his own sorcerous might to undo all damage and destruction the world over caused by Dormammu’s scheme, leaving everyone believing they had just suffered a mass hallucination. Finally, after bidding farewell to the Avengers, Strange teleports his team back to his Sanctum Sanctorum to attend to the Black Knight. The Avengers borrow a jet from S.H.I.E.L.D. and return to New York as well. Unfortunately, since they do not arrive in a Quinjet, the Avengers are unable to deactivate their mansion’s rooftop security systems ahead of time. Luckily, Black Panther is able to do it manually. Scarlet Witch complains again about “humans,” and Iron Man is annoyed by her attitude. Leaving the others to deal with the nearly catatonic Loki, Iron Man returns to Stark Industries.
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During a meeting with his new board of directors, Tony Stark’s mind is bombarded with a telepathic message painful in its intensity. He quickly retires to his private office and dons his Iron Man armor, hoping it will protect him. The sender of the message, a green-skinned alien calling himself Drax the Destroyer, eases off on the mental force while a flood of information washes over Iron Man’s mind, revealing that Drax was created to hunt down and destroy Thanos, the rebellious son of the leader of a colony living inside Saturn’s moon Titan. After a battle that devastated an alien planet, Drax was captured by Thanos and brought to a hidden base on Earth, but the supercomputer that runs the colony on Titan had informed Drax of Earth’s superheroes. Thus, he has sought out Iron Man to warn him of the grave threat posed by Thanos and his army of bloodthirsty mercenaries. Suddenly, Drax detects two of Thanos’s minions approaching Iron Man’s location, but the warning comes too late. The brutal Blood Brothers smash into the office and beat Iron Man senseless. When he comes to, the Golden Avenger finds himself being dragged through an underground installation by the Blood Brothers. He stuns them with repulsor rays, then tries to free Drax, only to be stopped by Thanos. Unexpectedly, Drax’s supercomputer hacks into Iron Man’s armor and fires a surge of energy through his chest-mounted uni-beam that wrecks the devices holding Drax prisoner. The grim warrior gets into a fight with the Blood Brothers and, with some help from Iron Man, knocks the savage creatures out. Iron Man punches Thanos in the head, only to find that it’s merely a robot doppelgänger. The real Thanos activates the base’s self-destruct mechanism, forcing Iron Man and Drax to evacuate. Outside, Iron Man discovers that they’re somewhere in the deserts of New Mexico. Drax thanks Iron Man for his help, then flies off in pursuit of Thanos. Assuming the Blood Brothers were killed when the base exploded, Iron Man heads for the nearest Stark Industries facility to repair his armor before heading back to New York.
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Iron Man goes directly to Avengers Mansion to inform the team about the threat of Thanos, but Jarvis informs him that everyone has gone out for the evening. When he gets tired of waiting around and tinkering with his armor, Iron Man changes back into Tony Stark and goes for a walk in Central Park. He comes across the unveiling of a new statue, which is being disrupted by an old man in a dirty robe calling himself “Rasputin, High Priest of Tavi, Angel of Dearth.” The TV crew covering the event chases the old man off after he damages one of their cameras with his weird-looking staff. The unveiling continues, revealing the statue to be in the form of a hideous demon. The crowd is appalled, but Tony chuckles, thinking that such an ugly statue might even frighten off the muggers that plague Central Park. Suddenly, the statue comes to life and kills the artist who created it, then threatens the panicking crowd. Tony quickly dons his armor and intercepts the monster. After a brief struggle, Iron Man reduces the stone demon to a harmless pile of rubble. Returning to Avengers Mansion, he wonders if the old man Rasputin could have been responsible for animating the statue but dismisses the idea as ridiculous.
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<b>June 1966 –</b> Iron Man is with Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, the Black Panther, and the Vision at Avengers Mansion when Rick Jones’s girlfriend, Lou-Ann Savannah, shows up on the verge of exhaustion and babbling about Thanos. The young woman passes out, and while examining her, Iron Man is shocked to discover one of the Controller’s slave-discs attached to the nape of her neck. Realizing his old foe has returned, Iron Man places Lou-Ann under a device intended to partially inhibit the disc’s operation. She is still there a little while later when Captain Marvel arrives at the mansion. He quickly switches places with Rick Jones, who informs the Avengers that he, Lou-Ann, and Captain Marvel have indeed gotten mixed up with Thanos, who is planning to conquer the Earth as a stepping stone to galactic domination. Rick switches places with Captain Marvel again as they head to the Avengers’ conference room for a full briefing. The Kree hero informs the team that Thanos has come to Earth in search of the Cosmic Cube, which the Avengers know could make him invincible. The meeting is interrupted by the Controller, who has broken into the mansion. Iron Man is knocked out in the fight, and when he awakens, he discovers that part of their headquarters has been completely demolished and he and his teammates are buried in the wreckage. As they dig themselves out, the heroes are frustrated to learn that the Controller kidnapped Lou-Ann and escaped. The Avengers notice that Captain Marvel’s hair has changed from silver to blond, but he says only that he’s had a strange experience that’s given him a new perspective. Work on reconstructing Avengers Mansion begins immediately, with most of the funding coming from the various charitable foundations Tony Stark has set up for such emergencies.
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A few days later, Iron Man and Captain Marvel finish making a tracking device to help them find Lou-Ann Savannah. When Captain Marvel insists on going after the Controller alone, Iron Man decides to fly back out to New Mexico to see if there’s anything in the wreckage of Thanos’s base to give them an edge in the coming conflict. Just before arriving, Iron Man is surprised to see the Thing trudging through the New Mexico desert but doesn’t stop to speak with him. While exploring the abandoned base, Iron Man is ambushed by the Blood Brothers and quickly realizes he is hopelessly outmatched. He tries to retreat, only to crash into the Thing in the installation’s doorway. After a vicious and destructive battle, Iron Man and the Thing finally manage to knock the Blood Brothers unconscious. The alien pair then dematerializes, and Iron Man isn’t sure if they’ve been rescued or executed by Thanos. The Thing requests a ride back to civilization, but Iron Man finds his power levels are too low to carry him any distance. Glad to know the Thing was already aware of the threat Thanos poses to Earth, Iron Man flies off, leaving his frustrated friend to continue his lonely trek across the desert.
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<b>July 1966 –</b> Tony is furious when the factory workers at his Long Island plant go on strike, having been convinced by labor agitators that the company’s move away from weapons production is part of a Communist plot to weaken America. He phones the union organizer, a Chinese man calling himself Gene Kahn, but their conversation is not productive. Frustrated, Tony tells his board of directors to begin the process of conducting a poll of the workers to see if they are interested in organizing, but he worries that a prolonged strike, just when the company’s fortunes are beginning to recover, could be devastating. His mood brightens considerably, though, when Virginia “Pepper” Hogan turns up looking to rejoin the staff. Pepper says that, given the worrying state of the U.S. economy, she and her husband, Harold “Happy” Hogan, agreed that she should return to work. Tony immediately hires Pepper to take over as his executive assistant. Tony then dons his Iron Man armor and goes out to speak with the workers on the picket line, but it doesn’t go well. Irritated that the workers dismissed him as a mere bodyguard, Iron Man flies into the city to confront Gene Kahn at the union offices. When he arrives, Iron Man discovers that “Gene Kahn” is none other than the Mandarin.
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The battle between Iron Man and the Mandarin, whose ten alien power-rings are more than a match for the Golden Avenger’s armor, quickly spills out into the street, causing bystanders to flee in a panic. To make matters worse, the Mandarin is now using the Unicorn as his lackey, and when they blast Iron Man simultaneously, the life-support system in his armor is completely destroyed. Fearing that he is about to suffer a fatal heart attack, Iron Man abandons the fight and flies back to Stark Industries, where the striking workers jeer him as he passes overhead. Heading into Tony’s private office, Iron Man runs into Pepper and implores her to plug his armor into a wall socket, but he then loses consciousness. When he comes to a while later, Tony is surprised that he hasn’t died of heart failure. He runs a series of tests and determines that his body has finally adjusted to the synthetic tissue used by Dr. José Santini a couple years ago to repair the damage to his heart. Leaving his laboratory, Tony finds a mob of striking workers ransacking the administration building while Pepper watches helplessly. He manages to defuse the situation by pointing out that sharing ideas with Communist countries can work in America’s interest, though the workers reject his claim that they have been duped by the Mandarin. Refusing to press charges for the vandalism, Tony returns to his lab and dons an older suit of armor for a rematch with the Mandarin and the Unicorn.
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Iron Man soon tracks down his foes and, during the ensuing fight, manages to dazzle them with a burst of light from his chest-mounted uni-beam. This causes them to inadvertently blast each other, seriously injuring the Mandarin. However, he somehow takes over the Unicorn’s mind and blows up a building to cover his escape. While Iron Man is busy rescuing bystanders from the falling debris, the Unicorn flies off with the Mandarin’s body. Frustrated, the Golden Avenger returns to Stark Industries, where he is surprised to find the picket line has broken up and the workers are returning to their jobs. He soon learns that the workers did their own investigating and confirmed Tony’s accusations that “Gene Kahn” was really the Mandarin. Relieved, Tony retreats to his private office and removes his armor, intent on extending the amount of time he can go without the life-support system in his chestplate. For the first time in four years, he feels truly optimistic about the future.
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When a group of super-powered terrorists dubbed the Elementals seals off the Egyptian capital, Cairo, behind an impenetrable force field, chaos erupts in the Middle East. The United Nations requests that the Avengers mobilize when the terrorists launch attacks on neighboring countries like Israel and the Sudan but is reluctant to send the team in for fear of making international tensions in the region worse. Ultimately, freedom fighters within Cairo manage to liberate the city and defeat the Elementals, though details remain sketchy.
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<b>August–September 1966 –</b> Tony builds a new suit of armor to replace the one destroyed fighting the Mandarin and the Unicorn, taking advantage of his reduced dependence on a life-support system. He also takes a gamble by redirecting the lion’s share of the company’s resources to an experimental space shuttle project which is nearing completion. Tony has dubbed the reusable spaceplane the <i>Star*Reach I</i> and hopes it will position Stark Industries as a major player in the aerospace industry. He is thrilled with Pepper’s loyalty and dedication, as she often works long hours without complaint.
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<b>October 1966 –</b> On Halloween, Mantis senses mystic emanations that portend great danger in Rutland, Vermont. Remembering the events of previous years, the Avengers decide they’d better check it out. When they arrive, Tom Fagan, one of the parade’s organizers, asks them to ride on one of the floats. Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and Black Panther agree, hoping to draw out the source of the unknown danger, but the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, the Swordsman, and Mantis decide not to participate and wander off into the crowd. Two hours later, as the parade is winding down, Iron Man is frustrated that nothing has happened. Fagan then leads the four heroes through the woods toward his house, only to suddenly reveal that he is the villain in disguise. Catching the Avengers off guard with some magic pellets, he knocks them out and takes them prisoner. When he comes to, Iron Man discovers that they have been captured by the Collector, but the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, the Swordsman, and Mantis have come to the rescue. The Collector activates two magic stones that produce a swarm of vampire bats that threaten the entire town, hoping to barter for his freedom. However, Mantis kicks the villain in the face and knocks him out, then uses the magic stones to make the bats vanish again. The real Tom Fagan thanks the Avengers for saving the city and offers them any further assistance he can provide. Thor asks Fagan if he would be willing to take over caring for Loki, feeling that Rutland would be a more appropriate setting for his near-catatonic brother. Fagan agrees, so the Avengers return to their Quinjet and fly back to New York. Unfortunately, the Collector escapes as soon as he regains consciousness.
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<b>November 1966 –</b> At Stark Industries, Tony receives a dispiriting call from a doctor at the Milford Sanitarium where Marianne Rodgers is getting treatment for her hallucinations. The doctor reports that Marianne’s prognosis is poor, as she continues to have “psychic visions” involving Tony and his armored bodyguard and has become increasingly aggressive toward her counselors. Tony blames himself, believing that his harsh rejection of her love last year must have pushed her over the edge into psychosis.
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Tony and Pepper fly to Detroit, Michigan, to meet with Roxanne Gilbert, daughter of the late Stark Industries boardmember Simon Gilbert. Roxanne wishes to divest herself of all the company stock left to her in her father’s will, and Tony has agreed to handle the matter personally, as he feels a bit guilty for failing to save Simon Gilbert’s life when he bombed their Bay City factory. No sooner have they arrived, though, than they are attacked by the revenge-seeking Firebrand and taken prisoner. Berating the villain for his violent scheme, Roxanne confirms that Firebrand is her brother, Gary Gilbert, and Tony notes that there seems to be little love lost between them. Firebrand then sends Tony to fetch Iron Man, threatening to burn Pepper if they don’t follow his instructions. Thus, at dawn Iron Man meets Firebrand at the cemetery where Simon Gilbert is buried. They fight, but Iron Man’s armor is able to compensate for his foe’s intense heat-blasts, and he soon gains the advantage. Unwilling to accept defeat, Firebrand tries to incinerate Pepper, but Roxanne shields her with her own body, suffering severe second-degree burns. Firebrand is horrified, giving Iron Man the chance to beat him senseless. As the police arrive on the scene, Iron Man flies Roxanne to the nearest hospital.
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Several hours later, Iron Man visits the heavily bandaged Roxanne in the recovery room, where she tepidly expresses gratitude to the superhero for saving her life, though she worries that the beating Firebrand received will only increase his fanaticism. Stung by her criticism, Iron Man leaves the room. After changing out of his armor, he tries to visit her as Tony Stark, only to find that Roxanne has left explicit instructions that he not be admitted. Tony heads to his hotel room, where he has a few drinks while stewing on her rejection. He knows Roxanne still sees him primarily as an arms dealer who made a fortune supplying weapons for the Vietnam War, and he sets himself the task of changing her mind. Tired of drinking alone, Tony invites Pepper for a nightcap in the hotel bar, where they are photographed together by the paparazzi. Pepper is clearly upset about something, but Tony is too drunk to take much notice. When he receives a call from the head of security at Stark’s aerospace division in Detroit reporting that the <i>Star*Reach I</i> space shuttle has been stolen, Tony races from the bar, dons his Iron Man armor, and flies out to track it down. He soon locates the craft on a lonely stretch of highway along Lake Huron and discovers the culprits to be the Masked Marauder and his exoskeleton-wearing henchman Steele. Unfortunately, due to his inebriated state, Iron Man is defeated by the villains and taken prisoner. The Masked Marauder boasts of his scheme to turn the space shuttle into a nuclear missile, with which he will destroy Detroit unless he is paid a one-billion-dollar ransom. Iron Man breaks free and batters his foes into unconsciousness, though the space shuttle is heavily damaged in the fight. After the Masked Marauder and his henchmen have been taken into custody, Tony returns to the hotel, where he learns that Pepper is upset because Happy is threatening to divorce her for putting her career first and neglecting him. Tony and Pepper both try calling Happy, but he can’t be reached.
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Pepper insists on continuing their business trip, so she and Tony fly to Cincinnati, Ohio, to approve the final plans for the Quantum IX Manned Orbiting Laboratory, designed to work in conjunction with the <i>Star*Reach I</i> space shuttle. They meet with the local plant manager, Vicki Snow, the first woman to rise to such a position in the company, and are very impressed with her. They are less taken with her head of research, Mark Scott—who is also her fiancé—as he tries to ingratiate himself with Tony only to reveal himself to be a sexist jerk. After Scott has left, Tony shows Snow a new compact power cell he has designed for the orbital platform, but Whiplash bursts into the office and tries to steal it. Tony manages to duck out and change into Iron Man. After a fight that does significant damage to his armor, Iron Man drives Whiplash off, satisfied that his foe left empty-handed. Tony and Pepper then return to Detroit to oversee the repairs to the <i>Star*Reach I</i> shuttle.
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When Roxanne Gilbert is released from the hospital, Tony gives her a ride home. He turns on the charm, asserting that he manufactured weaponry because he believed in the war effort, but when his views changed, he refocused his company on space research, pollution control, and consumer goods. Roxanne admits that her relationship with her father has soured her on industrialists like Tony, but he points out that Simon Gilbert was an extreme reactionary, much as Firebrand is an extreme radical, and positions himself as an open-minded moderate. Even so, when they are harassed by a paparazzo at Roxanne’s apartment building, Tony threatens to destroy the man’s career if any photos of Roxanne appear in the paper. Leaving Roxanne to rest and recuperate, Tony goes to check in with Pepper before heading to the hangar where work is progressing on the space shuttle. Suddenly, the facility is invaded by Doctor Spectrum, whom Tony vaguely remembers fighting at the Taj Mahal about two years ago. Looking for a grudge match, Doctor Spectrum demands that Iron Man face him. To protect his factory, Tony slips out, dons his armor, and obliges. Unfortunately, Iron Man’s fight with Doctor Spectrum doesn’t go well, and after being coated in a burning napalm-like substance, the Golden Avenger crashes into a wall that then collapses on top of him. Gloating, Doctor Spectrum flies off. Iron Man digs himself out of the rubble, changes back into Tony Stark, and returns to his hotel. He is disturbed to find that Pepper has trashed her room in a fit of rage and offers her a shoulder to cry on. Pepper vents about her marital problems but then starts kissing Tony. As luck would have it, Happy Hogan walks into the room at that moment. Calling Pepper a “playgirl,” Happy storms out, leaving his wife devastated and Tony feeling caught in the middle.
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Doctor Spectrum attacks again the next day when Iron Man is demonstrating the company’s new prefabricated modular-construction materials for Detroit’s Mayor Cavanagh and his entourage. Iron Man notes that Doctor Spectrum and his “power prism,” which speaks in an eerie alien voice, appear to be arguing more than ever. Returning to the local Stark Industries facility, Tony is accosted in his office by Happy, who accuses him of having an affair with Pepper. Tony denies it and tries to explain, but Happy starts a fistfight. Their scuffle is broken up by Pepper, and after admonishing them for fighting like schoolchildren, she tells Happy to meet her in the conference room so they can hash out their differences. However, they are interrupted by the arrival of Eddie March, who has brought with him Ugandan economics minister Dr. Kinji Obatu. Tony is surprised when Obatu says he wishes to hire Iron Man as his bodyguard while he’s visiting the U.S. His reasons become clear when a massive gray-skinned giant with a caveman’s club smashes into the office on a murderous rampage. The giant, calling himself Rokk, threatens to strike at Tony through his closest loved ones, prompting him to think of Roxanne Gilbert. Reading Tony’s mind, Rokk grabs Obatu and flies off to track down Roxanne and kill her. Tony quickly dons his Iron Man armor and sets off in pursuit. He soon finds Rokk demolishing the health-food store Roxanne owns. However, in the course of their battle, Iron Man discovers that Rokk is merely a construct created by Doctor Spectrum’s power prism, intended to deplete his armor’s energy supplies. Doctor Spectrum reveals himself and moves in for the kill, but the alien consciousness in the power prism has decided it wants Iron Man to serve as its new host. While his enemies are thus struggling to dominate each other, Iron Man is able to escape and fly back to the factory to make repairs and recharge his systems. He phones the Avengers and requests immediate backup.
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When he returns to the scene of the battle, Iron Man finds that Thor has responded to his call for help and is facing off with Doctor Spectrum high overhead. Tony is horrified to see that Eddie March had suited up in his copy of Iron Man’s armor and tried to apprehend Doctor Spectrum, only to collapse as a result of the blood clot in his brain. Quickly, Iron Man takes over the fight with Doctor Spectrum so Thor can change into Dr. Donald Blake and help Eddie. Using improvements he’s built into his armor to counter the power prism’s attacks, Iron Man quickly defeats Doctor Spectrum. After crushing the power prism under his heel, Iron Man unmasks his foe, revealing him to be Kinji Obatu. As the police take Obatu into custody despite his claims of diplomatic immunity, Iron Man sets off to follow the ambulance taking Eddie and Dr. Blake to the nearest hospital. When he arrives, he changes back into Tony Stark and rushes to the gallery above the operating theater, where Blake informs him that Eddie is not likely to survive the surgery. Desperate to save his friend, Tony suggests they use the enervation intensifier that brought Happy Hogan back from the brink of death three years ago. Blake is willing to give it a try, so Iron Man and Thor soon fly to Stark Industries’ Long Island facility and fetch the device from a warehouse. Once back in Detroit, Tony sets it up in the operating room while Thor resumes his mortal identity. Unfortunately, Tony’s worst fears are realized as the enervation intensifier mutates Eddie into a mindless, rampaging freak. Iron Man is forced to get rough with Eddie in order to subdue him, and when the transformation wears off, he carries his unconscious friend back to the operating room. Blake completes the surgery and reports that Eddie should recover, though he will likely be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
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Feeling guilty, Tony heads over to Roxanne Gilbert’s apartment, where he finds she has left a note for him. The note reveals that Eddie had originally come looking for Tony because his brother, Marty March, has gone M.I.A. in Vietnam, and he was hoping Iron Man would help find him. However, Roxanne has decided to go to Vietnam herself and give the matter her personal attention, as a way to repay Eddie for his self-sacrificing heroism. Tony, Pepper, and Happy return to New York, but while Tony is getting ready to travel to Vietnam, the noted “Hero for Hire” Luke Cage breaks into the factory. Tony changes into Iron Man and goes to apprehend the intruder, but Cage proves to be a lot tougher than expected and the two men get into a protracted fistfight. Finally, Cage backs off, saying he’s fulfilled his contract to test the factory’s security measures. Confused, Iron Man asks him what he’s talking about, and it soon becomes clear that Cage was duped into creating a diversion so his employer could steal the prototype spacesuit designed to work in conjunction with the <i>Star*Reach I</i> space shuttle and the Quantum IX Manned Orbiting Laboratory. Though Iron Man’s boot-jets were damaged in the fight, Cage manages to leap aboard the experimental plane the thief is using as a getaway vehicle. A few minutes later, Cage radios that the thief fell to his death and requests instructions on how to land the plane. After he’s returned to Stark Industries, Cage rips up the phony check he’d been given. Iron Man assures Cage that Tony Stark will reimburse him for his trouble—minus the cost to repair all the damage he caused.
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Hearing that Captain America has been arrested for murder, Tony delays his trip to Vietnam and heads immediately to Avengers Mansion as Iron Man. There, he meets Sgt. Damian Link, the team’s new liaison officer with the NYPD. However, the Swordsman soon exposes Link as Gemini, one of the twelve leaders of the international crime cartel Zodiac. He manages to evade the Avengers’ attempts to apprehend him until Thor punches him into a wall, leaving the villain extremely disoriented. Unfortunately, he is rescued by the rest of Zodiac—Aquarius, Cancer, Capricorn, Libra, Leo, Pisces, Sagittarius, Taurus, Virgo, and replacements for Aries and Scorpio—using their powerful “Star-Blazer” energy weapon. The criminals escape, but Taurus leaves behind a tape recording that reveals that they plan to use a giant version of the Star-Blazer weapon, the “Star-Blaster,” to kill everyone in Manhattan born under the sign of Gemini, after which they will announce their demands. Iron Man, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Vision, and Mantis head out to track their foes down, but the Swordsman is too ill to join them. During the search, Iron Man makes a detour to warn the Falcon of Captain America’s situation, since he’s just returned from a trip to Wakanda. Iron Man urges the Falcon to find Cap and convince him to turn himself in before the Avengers are forced to hunt him down. Certain that Cap is innocent, Falcon soars off into the sky, following his pet bird Redwing. Iron Man then resumes his own search. Just before midnight, the Avengers find the Zodiac gang setting up their Star-Blaster cannon on top of the Empire State Building and immediately disable the weapon. Even so, Taurus manages to fire its deadly rays at Mantis, knocking her out. Though Captain America turns up and joins the fray, Aries throws Mantis off the roof. While the Avengers are busy saving her, Zodiac escapes. Captain America assures his teammates he’s been framed but does not accompany them back to the mansion. There, Thor changes into Don Blake and checks Mantis over. He is shocked to discover she seems to be literally healing herself while in a trance. Iron Man asks the Swordsman to tell them more about Mantis, but he knows little about her past before he met her in a bar in Saigon while he was working for a local crime lord called Monsieur Khruul.
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After the Black Panther has joined them, the Avengers spread out over the city to search for Zodiac’s hidden lair. Just before dawn, Thor summons them to a warehouse in New Jersey, where they find seven members of the cartel meeting with the crooked financier Cornelius Van Lunt. The Avengers crash through the window to take their foes by surprise, but Van Lunt slips out during the fight and seals off the warehouse, revealing it to be a deathtrap. Before the Avengers or the seven members of Zodiac can react, Van Lunt launches the building into orbit. Thor tries to smash through the side of the warehouse, only to discover the building is surrounded by the same kind of force field that Zodiac used when they held Manhattan hostage two years ago. His enchanted hammer passes through the field but then is unable to return to him. Appearing to panic, Thor dives behind some crates and hides under a tarp. The other Avengers and Zodiac are confused by the thunder god’s behavior, but Iron Man realizes he must have turned back into Don Blake when he lost his hammer. Scarlet Witch is able to create a momentary weak spot in the field with her mutant hex power, which allows Iron Man to fly out and retrieve the hammer. Before Iron Man can figure out how to get back inside, though, Libra arrives in Zodiac’s spaceplane, the Star-Cruiser, and rescues them. Once Thor emerges from his hiding place, everyone joins Libra aboard the Star-Cruiser, and he flies them to Van Lunt’s penthouse. There, Van Lunt is revealed to be Taurus, and though he conspired with Capricorn, Gemini, and Virgo to kill off the other members of the cartel, he convinces his erstwhile partners-in-crime to put aside their differences long enough to destroy the Avengers. However, the Avengers win the fight, which ends when the Vision knocks Taurus into his swimming pool. Taurus panics because he can’t swim, but the Vision makes no move to rescue him. Luckily, Mantis charges in at that moment, dives into the water, and hauls Taurus to the surface. Thor is angry with the Vision, but the synthezoid offers no defense, even when the Scarlet Witch presses him on it. Disgusted, Thor demands that Libra explain why he betrayed Taurus and saved them all. Libra admits that it was something of a mistake; he really just wanted to rescue Mantis, having assumed she was with the Avengers—because she is his daughter.
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The Avengers turn the rest of Zodiac over to the police and free Sgt. Damian Link, who had been mind-controlled by the real Gemini, but take Libra back to Avengers Mansion for questioning. There, he explains how he met Mantis’s mother when he was fighting in the First Indochina War as a member of the French Foreign Legion. After a whirlwind romance, they were married, but her brother, the crime lord known as Monsieur Khruul objected to the match and tried to have them killed. Mantis was born while they were on the run. Eventually, Khruul’s assassins caught up to them and killed Libra’s wife, but he and his daughter found refuge in a remote monastery. The monks, who called themselves the Priests of Pama, raised Mantis, teaching her their unique form of martial arts. Finally, Libra admits, he left her there and returned to Europe. Consumed with rage, Mantis attacks Libra, but he subdues her, having learned the same fighting techniques that she did. Suddenly, the Avengers realize that the Swordsman has taken a Quinjet and is heading to Vietnam to take vengeance on Monsieur Khruul. Before they can follow, Iron Man must fly to Van Lunt’s property in New Jersey to retrieve their other Quinjet. When he returns, the Avengers set off, accompanied by Libra. Iron Man thinks it’s ironic since he was planning to go to Vietnam anyway.
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When the Avengers arrive at Monsieur Khruul’s villa on the outskirts of Saigon, they find the Swordsman tied to a chair. He admits he broke under torture and told the crime lord about the Priests of Pama and how to find them. Libra then leads the team to the remote monastery, but they arrive too late—all the monks have been slaughtered by Khruul’s assassins. The Avengers defeat the assassins, but Khruul flees deeper into the temple, only to be killed by the Star-Stalker, a dragon-like alien who has come to feed on the planet’s life-energies now that the Priests of Pama can no longer prevent him from doing so. The Star-Stalker shrugs off the Avengers’ initial attack, then spins a cocoon around itself in order to transform into its energy-absorbing form. Black Panther contacts S.H.I.E.L.D. and arranges for them to deliver Zodiac’s Star-Blaster cannon, which the agency has impounded. Unfortunately, when it emerges from its cocoon, the Star-Stalker proves to be impervious to the weapon’s rays. The creature slams Iron Man and Thor into each other, knocking them both out. When he comes to, Iron Man finds that Mantis and the Vision figured out how to defeat the Star-Stalker and were able to kill it. Leaving the Swordsman to recover in a Saigon hospital, the other Avengers return to New York, but Iron Man stays in Vietnam. He starts making inquiries to try to locate Roxanne Gilbert so they can coordinate their efforts to search for Eddie March’s brother.
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<b>December 1966 –</b> Iron Man meets up with Roxanne Gilbert, and along with a military escort, they set out to search for Marty March. Their trek takes them to the village of Ăn Thóc, which has been destroyed by an American bombing raid. Tony realizes that they are very close to the spot where he received the near-fatal wounds that led him to become Iron Man four and a half years ago. When the soldiers decide to return to their base, Roxanne objects and continues on into the jungle on her own. Iron Man goes after her, only to be attacked by the Japanese mutant known as Sunfire. Their fight ends abruptly when Sunfire is teleported away. Iron Man analyzes the energy signature of the teleportation beam and realizes it is a match for the Mandarin’s technology. Assuming that Sunfire has joined forces with the Mandarin, Iron Man tracks the teleportation beam to an underwater base in the South China Sea. As he approaches, however, a torpedo attack damages Iron Man’s helmet and he is forced to retreat. He flies to a Stark Industries facility in the Philippines to make repairs. Thinking it will give him a more fearsome appearance, Tony adds a nose to his faceplate.
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When he returns to the hidden base, Iron Man discovers that the Mandarin has found a way to transfer his consciousness back into his own body, leaving the Unicorn apparently dead on the floor. He also finds that Sunfire is the Mandarin’s prisoner, not his partner, and Iron Man is forced to rescue the brash mutant when the base is wrecked during the battle with the Mandarin. Unfortunately, the Mandarin is able to knock Iron Man out while his boot-jets are firing, sending him rocketing into the upper atmosphere. When he comes to, Iron Man is relieved that his armor’s life-support systems engaged automatically. He then flies to the Mandarin’s main fortress in the Gobi Desert, where he finds Sunfire battling the giant android Ultimo. Working together, Iron Man and Sunfire manage to bury Ultimo in an avalanche. Sunfire then reports that the Mandarin actually activated Ultimo because the Yellow Claw had taken over his fortress during his absence, and the two master criminals are currently fighting each other within. Iron Man smashes into the fortress and is shocked to discover that the Yellow Claw has murdered the Mandarin and now claims all his rival’s lands and properties. The Yellow Claw unleashes a series of deadly attacks, but Iron Man survives them and soon finds the villain boasting about his triumphs to the Black Lama, who has apparently promised a “golden globe of power” to the winner in a war of the super-villains. Iron Man tries to apprehend them, but they escape as the entire fortress is destroyed in a tremendous explosion.
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Exhausted, Iron Man flies back to the Philippines to recuperate. He is soon joined there by Happy and Pepper, who assure him that they’ve settled their marital problems by deciding that Happy will finally accept Tony’s offer to become the head of Stark Industries’ security division. Pepper also reveals that Happy has informed her that Tony is Iron Man, so they no longer have any secrets from each other. Tony is relieved, and they spend a day or so reviewing the company’s investments in Southeast Asia before returning to New York. Tony also makes inquiries with his contacts in the military as to Roxanne Gilbert’s whereabouts, but she seems to have vanished off the face of the earth. Though Tony is worried about her, he receives little cooperation from the military and suspects it is due to his refusal to provide them with any more weapons systems.
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Iron Man is at Avengers Mansion when Captain America returns from his recent battle against the Secret Empire in Washington, D.C. The team congratulates Cap on clearing his name, but he is in no mood to celebrate. Cap says cryptically that there was more to the situation than was revealed on the news, but he refuses to discuss it further. Thor soon returns from a trip to visit Loki in Rutland, Vermont, and then Mantis brings in the Swordsman, who is just back from Vietnam. A little while later, the Avengers meet with Captain Marvel, Drax the Destroyer, and their sexy friend Moondragon to discuss the problem of Thanos. Mar-Vell reports that Thanos has conquered the colony on Titan and worse, is now in possession of the Cosmic Cube. However, the strategy session is cut short when Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Drax, and Moondragon are suddenly teleported to Titan and imprisoned in a stasis field along with the villain’s brother Eros and their father, Mentor. As a creepy hooded figure enters the room, Thanos gloats about his victory while brandishing the Cosmic Cube. He then teleports everyone to some asteroids near Mars so he can show off his huge fleet of space pirates and that he holds the godlike being Chronos prisoner. Once they are back in Thanos’s observatory on Titan, Captain Marvel manages to disrupt the stasis field by briefly switching places with Rick Jones. The heroes launch a desperate attack, but it is all for naught—Thanos easily captures them again, then uses the Cosmic Cube to transform himself into a disembodied, nigh-omnipotent god. However, while Drax keeps Thanos busy, Iron Man and Captain Marvel manage to reach the core of the supercomputer I.S.A.A.C., where they try to determine a weakness in their foe they can exploit. Unfortunately, Thanos causes metal demon-creatures to form out of the structure of the building, and in the ensuing melee, Iron Man is knocked unconscious.
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When he comes to, Iron Man finds himself back in Avengers Mansion, unsure of how he came to be there. Along with Thor, Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, the Black Panther, the Vision, and the Swordsman, he soon locates Mantis on a nearby rooftop with Captain Marvel and Drax. Mar-Vell has somehow defeated Thanos by smashing the Cosmic Cube, though he and Mantis give only vague and evasive answers to the Avengers’ questions. As Drax flies off into the night sky, Captain Marvel trades places with Rick, who accompanies the others back to the mansion. Not long afterward, Iron Man and Captain America lend a hand when an old government research facility collapses a few blocks away. In the basement, they discover a vintage cryogenic vault and take it back to their headquarters for safekeeping. Iron Man decides to have some technicians from Stark Industries examine it after the holidays. Rick then says goodbye to the Avengers and sets out on a 15-city concert tour as part of the opening act for a more famous band. Iron Man tells Rick to let them know when he’s playing Madison Square Garden.
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Iron Man and Thor are concerned when the disillusioned Captain America says he’s considering giving up his costumed identity, permanently this time. Before they can discuss it further, though, the mansion is attacked by Klaw and his new partner, Solarr, who have imprisoned the Scarlet Witch, the Black Panther, the Vision, the Swordsman, and Mantis, along with Ambassador Ronald Pershing of Rhodesia, under a dome of solid sound outside. The villains are threatening to roast their hostages unless the Black Panther surrenders the throne of Wakanda to Klaw, after which he intends to declare war on Rhodesia to pay them back for the harsh treatment he suffered there last year. When Klaw proves to be a sonic illusion, Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America search the neighborhood for the real villain, but the Black Panther deduces that he is, in fact, masquerading as Ambassador Pershing. Klaw and Solarr are quickly defeated, but the Black Panther announces that he must take a leave of absence and return to Wakanda for a while. Thor, as current team chairman, grants the request and calls the Avengers to gather to toast their valiant comrade. Unfortunately, their celebration is marred when the Scarlet Witch and the Vision get into an argument about the Swordsman’s assertion that the Vision is trying to steal Mantis away from him. Iron Man can only wonder what the Scarlet Witch’s problem is lately. The atmosphere around the mansion is still a bit tense a day or two later when Iron Man joins the others for the Avengers’ Fifth Annual Christmas Charity Benefit.
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The Avengers respond when an intruder breaks into the lab where the vintage cryogenic vault is being stored, and they are surprised to find that he is the Whizzer, the super-fast crime-fighter of the 1940s who was a member of the Liberty Legion, the Invaders, and the post-war All-Winners Squad. The Whizzer claims that the cryogenic vault belongs to him, but the Avengers are dubious until the module opens, revealing a highly radioactive mutant inside. The mutant smashes its way to freedom and disappears into the city. Detecting three radioactive hotspots in the area, the Avengers split up to see which one is the mutant. Iron Man and Captain America find him at a power plant in Queens and note that the mutant has started referring to himself as “Nuklo.” They herd him back to Avengers Mansion, where they are shocked to see their teammates bringing two other Nuklos with them. The three doppelgängers merge into one, tripling his power. He scatters the Avengers with a force blast, but then the Scarlet Witch and the Whizzer arrive on the scene and trap him within a hex sphere that drains his power. As Nuklo loses consciousness, the Whizzer collapses from a massive heart attack. Vision carries him into their headquarters while Thor transforms into Dr. Donald Blake. While Blake is performing open-heart surgery on the elder hero, Scarlet Witch informs her teammates that Nuklo is the son of the Whizzer and his deceased wife, Miss America. More incredibly, she reveals, the couple had taken an extended vacation to Europe after their highly radioactive baby was placed in stasis by the government, and while there, Miss America got pregnant again. She ended up delivering at the High Evolutionary’s Citadel of Science on Wundagore Mountain but died in childbirth. Overcome with grief, the Whizzer fled, leaving newborn twins behind—twins that grew up to become the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Iron Man is happy that the Scarlet Witch has found her birth parents and hopes that her attitude will now improve. Blake soon reports that the Whizzer should make a full recovery, and the Avengers agree to let him stay at the mansion while he recuperates.
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<b>Notes:</b>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>January 1966 –</b> Iron Man starts off the year with a cameo appearance in <i>Fantastic Four</i> #133. The Avengers’ battles with Magneto and the Lion God span <i>Avengers</i> #110–112, with an additional flashback in <i>Captain America</i> #173. Tony Stark doesn’t seem to recognize Charles Xavier, so it’s possible they never met face-to-face during their joint project to capture and cure the Hulk a year ago. Instead, Mister Fantastic must have acted as a go-between, coordinating their separate efforts. The Lion God is most likely the Nubian god Apedemak, who is related to the Egyptian pantheon.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>February 1966 –</b> Iron Man, the Human Torch, and the Inhumans help Spider-Man rescue the Avengers from Kang and Zarrko in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #9–11. The Avengers then repair the Statue of Liberty at the beginning of <i>Avengers</i> #113.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>March 1966 –</b> The Avengers save the Vision from the suicide bombers in the rest of <i>Avengers</i> #113, during which Tony Stark and Don Blake confirm that they have figured out each other’s secret identities. Interestingly, they don’t share this information with their teammates, whose real names are known to both of them.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>April 1966 –</b> Mantis and the Swordsman turn up and help the Avengers defeat the Lion God in <i>Avengers</i> #114. Apparently, the Lion God never manages to return from the dimension to which Thor banishes him.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>May 1966 –</b> The Avengers and the Defenders team up to defeat Loki and Dormammu in <i>Avengers</i> #115–118 and <i>Defenders</i> #8–11. Additional information is provided in a flashback in <i>Avengers</i> #157, and the Avengers return home in the first few pages of <i>Avengers</i> #119. Iron Man’s solo adventures then pick up again in <i>Iron Man</i> #55 and following.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>June 1966 –</b> The Avengers and Captain Marvel battle the Controller in <i>Captain Marvel</i> #27–30. Iron Man and the Thing then join forces against the Blood Brothers in <i>Marvel Feature</i> #12.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>July 1966 –</b> The United Nations places the Avengers on standby as the Elementals terrorize Cairo in <i>Supernatural Thrillers</i> #13. Iron Man and his teammates remain behind the scenes, though.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>August–September 1966 –</b> Stark Industries’ space shuttle was named after writer Mike Friedrich’s independent publishing venture, which would produce the comic book anthology series <i>Star*Reach</i> about a year later.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>October 1966 –</b> The bulk of <i>Avengers</i> #119 covers the last Rutland, Vermont Halloween Parade story.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>November 1966 –</b> In <i>Iron Man</i> #62, “Mark Scott” is really Whiplash using an alias. He breaks up with Vicki Snow and quits his job at Stark Industries shortly after this story. Iron Man meets Luke Cage in <i>Power Man</i> #17, then the Avengers battle Zodiac, encounter Monsieur Khruul, and save the world from the Star-Stalker in <i>Avengers</i> #120–124. Iron Man’s meeting with the Falcon is seen in <i>Captain America</i> #171. Zodiac must set up their Star-Blaster cannon atop the Empire State Building rather than the World Trade Center (as depicted), since the latter towers haven’t been built yet. During the Avengers’ visit to the temple of the Priests of Pama, it is revealed that Tony Stark is a fluent speaker of Vietnamese.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>December 1966 –</b> Iron Man teams up with Captain Marvel and his friends to battle Thanos in <i>Captain Marvel</i> #31–33, while the Avengers deal with the villain’s space armada in <i>Avengers</i> #125. Confusingly, three different time periods are mashed together in the first three pages of <i>Avengers</i> #125—Lou-Ann Savannah’s arrival at the mansion (in June), Libra being taken away by the police (in November), and Captain America returning to the Avengers after defeating the Secret Empire (in December). This is clearly done for dramatic effect. Thanos’s creepy hooded associate is, of course, a manifestation of Death, but Iron Man is not aware of this. Presumably, Iron Man is teleported back to Earth by I.S.A.A.C. Later, Iron Man and Captain America discover Nuklo’s cryogenic vault in a flashback in <i>Giant-Size Avengers</i> #1, then Rick Jones says goodbye in <i>Captain Marvel</i> #34. Klaw and Solarr attack in <i>Avengers</i> #126, in which Rhodesia is fictionalized as “Rudyarda.” The Scarlet Witch and the Vision’s argument is seen in one of the many flashbacks in <i>Avengers</i> #280. The Avengers then encounter the Whizzer and Nuklo in <i>Giant-Size Avengers</i> #1. This brings us up to <i>Iron Man</i> #71.
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<i><b>Jump To:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2022/10/omu-iron-man-year-six.html">Iron Man – Year Six</a></i>
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<i><b>Jump Back:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2016/08/omu-iron-man-year-four.html">Iron Man – Year Four</a></i>
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<i><b>Next Issue:</b> <a href="https://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2019/01/omu-thor-year-five.html">The Mighty Thor – Year Five</a></i>
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<br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-65436757206764676302018-10-19T10:13:00.001-05:002023-09-26T13:36:26.149-05:00Scarlet Witch IllustratedDuring the first two years of her superhero career, the <b>Scarlet Witch</b> saw a number of minor modifications to her costume as it evolved into the “classic” version she would wear for many years afterward and be best known by. I noticed these changes while working on my <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2005/04/omu-scarlet-witch-part-one.html">Scarlet Witch Chronology</a> and decided it would be fun to take a closer look.
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The original Scarlet Witch costume was given to Wanda by Magneto when she joined his so-called Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Her twin brother, Pietro, was given a costume of his own and christened Quicksilver. Wanda wore this outfit during the five months she was a member of Magneto’s team and continued to wear it when she and her brother subsequently joined the Avengers.
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After a few months, following an escape from the clutches of Doctor Doom, Wanda decided to stop wearing the waist-cinching belt Magneto had given her, creating a sleeker, more streamlined look. However, at the same time, she realized that her mutant powers were fading, leading her to take a leave of absence from the Avengers just a week or two later.
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In search of a way to restore her powers, Wanda and Pietro returned to their home country, Transia, and the environs of Wundagore Mountain, where they were born. There, they met an eccentric scientist, who devised a series of diathermatic treatments that seemed to be effective. Excited by the prospect of soon returning to the Avengers, Wanda redesigned her costume’s headdress, making it much less cumbersome.
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Unfortunately, Wanda and Pietro were almost immediately captured by an alien invader and held prisoner aboard his flying saucer for many weeks before being rescued by the Avengers. The twins then returned to active duty for a few months, only for Wanda’s powers to fade again. They were captured by Magneto and held on his island fortress in the Atlantic until finally escaping in the aftermath of a battle involving the Avengers and the X-Men. Believing the Avengers thought they had rejoined Magneto’s terrorist group of their own free will, the twins went into hiding for the summer with their former Brotherhood teammate the Toad, and bereft of her powers, Wanda only donned her costume again in the autumn when they were attacked by mutant-hunting Sentinel robots. The Sentinels were defeated by the X-Men, enabling Wanda, Pietro, and the Toad to return to Central Europe aboard one of the robots’ airships. There, while searching the region’s occult libraries, the trio received brand-new costumes.
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Wanda was suddenly kidnapped by the extradimensional barbarian king Arkon and taken to his world of Polemachus, where he declared his intention to make her his bride. Arkon outfitted Wanda with a metal belt that locked around her waist with a jeweled clasp, his version of an engagement ring. Though the Avengers rescued her from Polemachus and defeated Arkon, Wanda waited several days before having the belt removed.
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However, the next day, Wanda took to wearing a scarlet leather belt buckled tightly around her waist, apparently still dealing with the emotional turmoil stirred up during her sojourn on Polemachus. She also replaced her gloves and booties with more substantial gauntlets and boots and sported this look during the Avengers’ battle with the Lethal Legion.
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Following this skirmish, Wanda stopped wearing a belt, settling into the standard costume she would wear for the better part of the next decade.
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<br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-73004959766609059962018-08-16T10:13:00.011-05:002023-10-18T15:27:38.071-05:00OMU: Daredevil -- Year FiveThe life of <b>Daredevil</b> takes another turn as he concludes his sojourn in San Francisco and returns to New York’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood when his relationship with the Black Widow falls apart. Most of the villains he encounters in the months before his departure are tied together by a conspiracy involving the esoteric Moondragon, herself being manipulated by a diabolical mastermind. This in turn leads Daredevil to be tangentially connected to Thanos and his plot to conquer the solar system, which along with some high-profile guest-stars, helps the series feel less isolated from the rest of the Marvel Universe.
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<b>Note:</b> The following timeline depicts the <b>Original Marvel Universe</b> (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2004/12/the-original-marvel-universe.html">previous posts</a> for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
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Here comes… <b>The True History of Daredevil, the Man Without Fear!</b>
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<b>January 1966 –</b> At their north shore townhouse in San Francisco, Matt Murdock, Natasha Romanoff, and Ivan Petrovich continue to recuperate from the injuries they sustained fighting the Man-Bull a couple months ago. Nearly recovered, Matt starts going out on crime patrols at night as Daredevil. When a young acrobat hits his head on the sidewalk one evening while performing for the crowd outside a movie theater, Daredevil uses his hypersenses to monitor the man’s condition until an ambulance arrives to take him to the hospital. Feeling he’s done all he can, Daredevil then goes to assist the police in capturing an armed gang of teenagers shooting up a university research center. The next day, the young acrobat reappears, now possessing superhuman powers and calling himself the Dark Messiah, and frees hundreds of prisoners from jail. Daredevil works with his friend on the San Francisco police force, Lt. Paul Carson, to track the villain to Golden Gate Park. Unfortunately, the Dark Messiah empowers three henchmen, whom he calls the Disciples of Doom, and they give Daredevil a beating before teleporting away. Later, Natasha insists on suiting up as the Black Widow and joining Daredevil in hunting down the villains. They soon find the Disciples of Doom menacing the passengers of a wrecked trolley car and defeat them, though Black Widow collapses in pain since her wounds are not fully healed. This leaves Daredevil to face the Dark Messiah alone, leading to a brawl in a drugstore that only ends when the villain unexpectedly explodes. Daredevil digs himself out of the rubble and staggers out into the street to find the Black Widow with Lt. Carson, but he’s at a loss to explain what’s happened.
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Carson escorts Daredevil and the Black Widow back to their townhouse, where they are surprised to find Hawkeye waiting impatiently. Hawkeye declares his undying love for Natasha, which annoys her and makes Daredevil jealous. The ex-Avenger continues to press the point, manipulating Natasha into admitting she has a “soft spot” for him in her heart. Infuriated, Daredevil shoves Hawkeye, prompting the archer to punch him in the face. As they fight, the two men crash through the bay window and continue their donnybrook in the yard until Hawkeye activates a phosphorous arrow. Realizing it’s emitting a bright light, Daredevil pretends to be blinded, giving the gloating Hawkeye a chance to leap atop a passing Greyhound Bus. Natasha is outraged that they are fighting over her like a piece of property and argues with Daredevil about it. Nevertheless, he goes after Hawkeye, finding him battling a motorcycle gang downtown. The two rivals fight again, each one managing to disarm the other, before finally declaring a truce. They agree to let Natasha decide which man she prefers. However, when they return to the townhouse, they find the Black Panther, Thor, and the Vision have come to recruit them for a battle with Magneto. Hawkeye angrily refuses and storms out, saying he’s severed all ties with the Avengers. Daredevil isn’t too sure about being a member of a large group, thinking it would be overwhelming to his hypersenses, but the Black Panther calls in the favor Matt owes him from the Blue Talon affair last year. Thus, the five heroes board the Avengers’ Quinjet and fly to New York City.
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At Avengers Mansion, Daredevil discusses the situation with the Black Panther, Thor, and the Vision, though the Black Widow seems to have other things on her mind. As the team’s butler, Edwin Jarvis, serves coffee, Black Panther explains how Magneto defeated the X-Men and took them prisoner before coming after the Avengers. He then captured Iron Man, Captain America, and the Scarlet Witch and made good his escape. Scanning a newspaper on the table with his fingers, Daredevil suggests they check out a special meeting of the Atomic Energy Commission, thinking it seems a likely target for Magneto due to his interest in radiation-induced mutations. Thor concurs, so the five heroes head out to the conference, which is being held at a large estate outside the city. When they arrive, though, they are unable to stop Magneto from kidnapping the commissioners, as he has Iron Man, Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, and Iceman under some form of mind control. Daredevil is frustrated that he and the Black Widow weren’t more help in the fight. They then head to the X-Men’s headquarters in Westchester County to search the area. Daredevil’s radar sense detects a large cavern beneath the woods surrounding the estate, and when Thor smashes a tunnel down to it, they find Magneto and his prisoners. The heroes are again forced to battle the villain’s mind-controlled minions until the Vision phases inside Magneto’s henchman Piper in order to get close enough to knock Magneto out with a karate chop to the back of the neck. The X-Men’s leader, Professor X, then appears, having also been held prisoner, and puts Magneto into a telepathically induced coma. Taking charge of the defeated villains, the X-Men return to their nearby headquarters, intent on searching for a missing teammate. Captain America conveys the Avengers’ thanks to Daredevil and the Black Widow and offers them full membership on the team. Daredevil declines, but to his surprise, Natasha accepts and snaps at him when he reacts negatively. Stung by her rejection, Daredevil leaves the cavern immediately, wondering whether she might still be in love with Hawkeye. Later, Black Panther arranges for a Quinjet to take Daredevil back to San Francisco.
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As soon as he arrives, Daredevil stops an armed robbery, though he suddenly becomes extremely disoriented for a moment. He is curious to find that the robbers were stealing not cash but files of some kind. A young Bay Area journalist, Jann Wenner, approaches and says that the files were stolen from his publisher’s offices, so Daredevil helps him carry the papers back inside. There, Wenner requests an interview, though he soon becomes frustrated by Daredevil’s evasive answers. Matt is also frustrated when he gets tripped up by his old “Mike Murdock” cover story, as he forgot that Wenner thinks he’s talking to the second man to wear the Daredevil costume. The interview is interrupted when reality suddenly goes topsy-turvy and Daredevil is attacked by phantoms of his old foes. He notes that whatever is causing the illusions is affecting everyone in the area. When the phenomenon passes, Wenner reveals that similar events have been reported all over the city the past few days. Daredevil phones Lt. Carson at police headquarters for confirmation, only for the illusionist to reveal himself—a young hippie calling himself Angar the Screamer. Angar hits Daredevil with his perception-altering scream again, causing the hero to slam into a brick wall and knock himself out. When Daredevil comes to, Carson is on the scene but Angar has gotten away. Unable to provide a useful description of Angar to the police, Daredevil claims to be too shaken up to think clearly and heads for home. Matt is thrilled when Natasha soon enters the townhouse, having left the Avengers to be with him, but their reunion is spoiled when Angar unleashes his scream from the street outside, making Natasha and Ivan see Matt as a monster. Issuing a challenge to Daredevil, Angar then laughs and drives off in his convertible. Rather than pursue the villain, though, Matt and Natasha decide to call it a night and retire to have make-up sex.
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The next morning, Matt goes into work at the offices of Broderick, Sloan, and Murdock, Attorneys-at-Law. Matt is frustrated by the counterintuitive instructions he keeps receiving from the senior partner, Kerwin J. Broderick, on how to handle his cases, especially since he and Broderick still have not actually met. Matt tries to argue with the other partner, Jason Sloan, who relays Broderick’s messages, but to no avail—Sloan credits Broderick’s unconventional decisions with making the firm so successful. Fuming, Matt leaves the office, only to be kidnapped by Angar the Screamer as soon as he exits the building. As they drive out to a nondescript house in Berkeley, Matt is intrigued to learn from Angar’s complaining that he is not acting on his own but is taking orders from a mysterious employer who wants Daredevil and the Black Widow dead. Matt uses this information to his advantage, arguing that Angar’s countercultural values are being corrupted by his boss’s violent schemes. Unable to deal with his own hypocrisy, Angar finally releases Matt. However, Black Widow then arrives on the scene with the police, and so, fearing they are no match for Angar’s powers, Matt changes into Daredevil and tries to stop them from storming the house. Unfortunately, Angar comes out and attacks them, his mind-altering scream causing the police to start shooting at each other. Daredevil tries to beat Angar senseless but is overwhelmed by the sonic assault. Finally, Black Widow jumps Angar and threatens to shoot him in the head with her “widow’s bite” stinger at point-blank range, which is likely to prove fatal. Believing she means business, Angar surrenders but still manages to escape while Daredevil and the Black Widow are arguing about how dangerous he is. Matt is unsettled by the realization that Natasha really was willing to use deadly force against their foe.
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<b>February 1966 –</b> While searching the city for Angar the Screamer, Daredevil comes across Wilbur Day, better known as the Stilt-Man, engaged in a smuggling operation on the waterfront. He beats up the smugglers, though Day manages to escape. Discovering that the crooks were dealing in high-quality electronic equipment, Daredevil takes the Black Widow with him for some after-hours research at the San Francisco Public Library. There, they learn that Day’s former employer, Carl Kaxton, and his daughter Barbara vanished about three weeks ago. Daredevil surmises that Day must be trying to force Kaxton to turn his molecular condenser into a powerful weapon, and Black Widow worries that turning a shrinking ray on San Francisco could trigger the San Andreas Fault and destroy much of California. Thus, they split up, with Daredevil searching the city for the Kaxtons while the Black Widow hunts down Stilt-Man. Several hours later, Daredevil finds Carl Kaxton being held prisoner in an abandoned building and frees him. Kaxton reports that Stilt-Man intends to turn the shrinking ray on the Golden Gate Bridge and has taken Barbara with him to test it. Daredevil sets out at once and soon comes upon the Black Widow fighting Stilt-Man high above the city. The villain shoots Natasha with his ray gun, causing her to fall. She manages to save herself with her grappling hook but dislocates her shoulder in the process. Daredevil slams into Stilt-Man’s backpack, knocking out his gyroscopic controls and sending him tumbling into an automobile showroom. After Daredevil sets the Black Widow’s shoulder back into place, the two heroes reunite the Kaxtons and take them out to breakfast while the police take Stilt-Man into custody.
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<b>March 1966 –</b> Jann Wenner requests that Daredevil and the Black Widow take the files that were nearly stolen in January for safekeeping, as they relate to an exposé on San Francisco’s biggest crime boss that the newspaper is putting together. After locking the papers in the wall safe in their townhouse, Daredevil goes downstairs and is surprised to find the Black Widow chatting with Spider-Man, who, it turns out, has come in the guise of photojournalist Peter Parker to interview them for the New York newspaper <i>The Daily Bugle</i>. Pretending not to recognize his fellow superhero, Daredevil invites Parker into their library to conduct the interview there. However, a muscle-bound bruiser with an armored head and shoulders smashes into the house, rips open the safe, and steals the files. Daredevil and the Black Widow pursue the thief, who calls himself “Ramrod,” into the city and soon find him battling Spider-Man, confirming Matt’s sensory impressions of Peter Parker. At Daredevil’s suggestion, Spider-Man takes the document box and swings off into the city, but in the ensuing fight, Ramrod nearly kills the Black Widow when he knocks her out and throws her off a roof. Daredevil manages to save her, though, and after catching their breath, they find Spider-Man and Ramrod battling atop a skyscraper in the Financial District. Startled to see that the Black Widow is still alive, Ramrod loses his footing and falls off the building, crashing into the sidewalk far below. Spider-Man returns the files to Daredevil and swings off, only to show up as Peter Parker again a few minutes later. As the comatose Ramrod is taken to a nearby hospital, Daredevil and the Black Widow give Parker an exclusive interview about their crime-fighting adventures while they stroll along the Embarcadero.
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<b>May 1966 –</b> Following a global wave of violence, Daredevil and the Black Widow are shocked when people around them inexplicably start changing into hideous, demonic monsters as San Francisco transforms into a weird, alien landscape. They try desperately to contain the rampaging creatures until, less than an hour after the phenomenon began, the city and its people suddenly revert to their normal forms. A couple minutes later, all the damage is abruptly undone, as if by magic, leaving Daredevil and the Black Widow baffled. Later, the Avengers report that it was all a mass hallucination created by a super-villain whom they’ve defeated.
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<b>June–August 1966 –</b> Daredevil and the Black Widow focus on fighting crime on the streets of San Francisco, disrupting the city’s various rackets and frustrating its crime bosses, who are unused to dealing with superheroes. Ivan occasionally assists them with basic detective work. Meanwhile, Matt continues to butt heads with his law partner Jason Sloan while dealing with bizarre dictates from the reclusive Kerwin Broderick. Ramrod remains hospitalized in a coma, and there is no sign of Angar the Screamer.
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<b>September 1966 –</b> When the one-year lease on their townhouse expires, Natasha is able to convert it to a month-to-month contract while they figure out what to do. She is clearly frustrated that her career as a fashion designer is going nowhere, forcing her to deplete her savings. However, Matt is happy to pay the bills from his salary at the law firm, though it annoys Natasha to be dependent on him to maintain their lifestyle.
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<b>October 1966 –</b> Matt returns from work one evening to find the townhouse a shambles. Ivan, who has been left bound and gagged, reports that Natasha has been kidnapped to lure Daredevil to the San Francisco Zoo. When he arrives at the zoo, Daredevil discovers that the kidnapper is Spider-Man’s old enemy Kraven the Hunter. After trading punches with the villain, Daredevil learns that the Black Widow has been tied up in the elephant enclosure. Kraven blows a horn that drives the elephants into a frenzy, then escapes while Daredevil is rescuing her. Despite their best efforts, the couple is unable to track down their foe.
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About a week later, Matt and Natasha attend a cocktail party hosted by Kerwin J. Broderick, giving them the opportunity to finally meet the firm’s senior partner. Broderick is a gracious host and seems unconcerned that Matt has been ignoring his directives lately. Matt and Natasha try to enjoy the party but feel rather out of place among the more conservative members of the city’s elite. Suddenly, Kraven the Hunter crashes through the window and attacks Matt and Natasha, convinced that this will draw out Daredevil. Glad for a chance to get back at Kraven for the humiliation she felt last week, Natasha holds him off while Matt flees with the other guests. Finding a secluded spot, he quickly changes into Daredevil and returns to the fray. After smashing up Broderick’s living room, the fight moves into the trees outside, but Daredevil gets distracted when Kraven produces a blowgun and hits Natasha with a poison dart. The villain presses his advantage, managing to knock Daredevil out and throw him off the fifty-foot cliff behind Broderick’s house.
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Before he hits the rocks below, however, Daredevil finds himself teleported to a strange metallic building that seems to be underwater. Wandering through its labyrinthine corridors, he eventually comes upon a large chamber filled with unusual scents and sounds. He detects the presence of an incredibly fit bald woman in a cape who is in a deep trance. As he approaches, she suddenly revives and knocks him down with impressive martial-arts skill. She relieves him of his billy club with telekinesis and threatens to kill him with her telepathy, calling him a “Thanos-thrall.” Daredevil relents and suggests they share information, since he has no idea who she is or what she’s talking about. Surprised, the woman introduces herself as “Moondragon” and relates a bizarre tale of growing up in a kung fu monastery on one of the moons of Saturn, which was eventually destroyed by a power-mad conqueror named Thanos. She fled to Earth, she reveals, only to discover that Thanos already had agents at work on that world as well. Establishing a base off the coast of California, Moondragon found an influential ally who convinced her that Daredevil was one of Thanos’s agents. Thus, she created the Dark Messiah, Angar the Screamer, and Ramrod to destroy him. Daredevil is stunned by this revelation and is horrified to learn that Moondragon is setting all three of his foes loose on the city again at that very moment. Daredevil insists that she’s misjudged him, so Moondragon initiates a telepathic probe of his innermost thoughts. For a moment their minds meet in total communication, and it proves to be a deeply moving experience for both of them. Moondragon is convinced that Daredevil is not evil, but then her ally appears and shoots her in the back with a ray gun. Daredevil is shocked to realize that it is none other than Kerwin J. Broderick himself, who plans to use Moondragon’s creations, including a new monster called Terrex, to take over the city. After ranting a bit, Broderick shoots Daredevil as well with a painful stun-blast. When he regains consciousness, Daredevil is surprised to still be alive. Broderick is gone, but a faint heartbeat is detectable in Moondragon. Though gravely weakened, she is able to direct Daredevil to a laboratory, where he lays her on an examination table under a bank of strange devices. She starts telling him which controls to activate, but being blind, he is not able to follow her instructions. Thus, Moondragon summons up the last of her fading strength and hits Daredevil with a psychic jolt. Feeling like his head is on fire, Daredevil starts to panic when he realizes his radar sense is gone, but then, incredibly, his eyesight suddenly returns.
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The first thing Matt sees is Moondragon’s lithe form in her skimpy green costume, and he finds her to be strikingly beautiful. She guides him through activating the medical devices, which bathe her in restorative rays until she is completely healed. A bit overwhelmed with emotion, Daredevil embraces her and tries to express his gratitude, but she says they’ve no time for that while Terrex threatens the world. They race from room to room looking for a weapon to use against the monster, but Broderick has wrecked the place. Thus, Moondragon teleports them to Broderick’s lawn to meet up with the Black Widow. Matt is entranced by Natasha’s appearance—her regal features, flowing auburn hair, and statuesque form clad in skintight black leather—but he forces himself to stay focused on the problem at hand. Lieutenant Carson is on the scene with numerous police officers, though Kraven the Hunter has gotten away, so Daredevil convinces him to give them a ride into the city. Natasha is clearly shocked that Matt has somehow regained his sight, but he doesn’t want to discuss it in front of Carson. Instead, he introduces them to Moondragon and tells them of Broderick’s scheme to set himself up as the dictator of Central California. As they race through the countryside toward the city, Matt is amazed to be able to see the stars in the sky. Approaching the metropolitan area, the squad car gets stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic as frightened citizens try to flee the chaos the villains are causing, so Daredevil and the Black Widow get out and continue on foot. They soon come upon the Dark Messiah but distracted by the villain’s bizarre appearance, Daredevil fails to dodge his eye-beams. When Ramrod appears, Daredevil is unable to avoid his attack either, as he’s not used to operating as a sighted person. The Dark Messiah is about to kill Daredevil when Moondragon intervenes and saves his life by stripping her creation of all his powers. Realizing he’s in no shape to take on Ramrod, let alone Terrex, Daredevil asks Moondragon to put him back the way he was. She’s reluctant, but he insists that he’s finally gotten to see Natasha and that’s all he really wanted. With a tear in her eye, Moondragon grants his request, and Matt sees the world go dark once more.
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With his radar sense more powerful than ever before, Daredevil goes to rescue the Black Widow from Ramrod, but the battle is interrupted when Broderick arrives on the scene, carried by the gigantic Terrex. The megalomaniac merges with his monster, becoming a single being with the power to drain the life-force from every living thing in the Bay Area. Daredevil tries to attack him, only to have his legs temporarily paralyzed. The heroes retreat to police headquarters, where they confer with Commissioner Robert “Ironguts” O’Hara, but he is distraught over news that his younger brother has been murdered in Africa. When they receive word that the alien superhero Captain Marvel is battling Ramrod in Golden Gate Park, Carson takes Daredevil, the Black Widow, and Moondragon to the scene in a police helicopter. By the time they arrive, Ramrod has been defeated. Captain Marvel confirms Moondragon’s story and warns that Thanos has already arrived on Earth to obtain the Cosmic Cube, which will make him invincible. He and Moondragon concoct a plan to defeat Terrex, though Daredevil and the Black Widow don’t really understand it. As such, Daredevil confronts Terrex as Matt Murdock, whose defiance sends Broderick into a paroxysm of rage, as Moondragon suspected it would. However, Matt worries that the plan will be derailed when Angar the Screamer arrives on the scene, but he turns his sonic powers on Terrex, accusing the monster of killing his girlfriend. While Matt, Natasha, and Captain Marvel keep Terrex busy, Moondragon uses her telepathy to control the nature of the illusions Angar is generating and uses them to destroy Broderick’s mind. He dies as Terrex dissolves, but neither Moondragon nor Captain Marvel are willing to explain exactly what happened. Natasha is rather in awe of Captain Marvel as he flies off, which makes Matt a little jealous, though he remains utterly fascinated by Moondragon.
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With her undersea base wrecked, Moondragon comes to stay at Matt and Natasha’s townhouse, where she meets Ivan. Matt is thrilled to have her around, though Natasha is not happy about it. Following Kerwin Broderick’s death, Jason Sloan goes into hiding, leaving the law firm to fall apart. Matt oversees closing it down, glad that he has enough money saved so as to not need to find a new job immediately. When Commissioner O’Hara takes a leave of absence to go to Africa to bury his brother, Paul Carson is appointed acting commissioner until he returns. Swamped with his new duties, Carson has no time for Daredevil or the Black Widow, though he is more tolerant of their vigilante activities than his predecessor.
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<b>November 1966 –</b> Daredevil and the Black Widow continue their crime-fighting crusade, something Moondragon has no interest in, although she is willing to tutor them in the martial arts. Matt notices that Natasha is getting increasingly vicious during fights and becomes concerned. He suspects she is jealous of Moondragon and it’s making her lose her cool. While on patrol one night, Daredevil and the Black Widow suddenly pass through an interdimensional portal, finding themselves in a large, domed structure filled with hundreds of rowdy men. Near a central conference table, a scantily-clad teenage girl is tied to a telephone pole, about to be executed by firing squad. Black Widow kicks several of the executioners as she swings by, throwing everything into disarray. Before they can do anything else, the two heroes find themselves back in San Francisco as if nothing had happened. Alighting on a nearby rooftop, they discuss whether the incident was real or an illusion, but there’s no evidence either way.
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<b>December 1966 –</b> Moondragon goes off with Captain Marvel for a while, and when she returns, she reports that they joined forces with the Avengers to defeat Thanos and his army of alien mercenaries. Matt and Natasha are relieved to know that the threat to Earth has ended.
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While swinging high above the gaily decorated city streets on Christmas Eve, Daredevil and the Black Widow discuss their relationship. Natasha confronts him about his obvious attraction to Moondragon and demands to know where they stand, but Matt can give only vague, noncommittal answers. Their talk is interrupted by a mugging in a nearby alley, which the two superheroes swing down to stop. Daredevil is shocked when the Black Widow goes berserk and nearly beats one of the muggers to death. Attempting to bring Natasha back to her senses, Daredevil slaps her. Two policemen arrive on the scene then, and while Daredevil is talking to them, Black Widow slips away without a word. Frustrated, Daredevil returns to the townhouse, where he is relieved to find Natasha waiting for him on his bed. They try to discuss what just happened, but it quickly becomes an argument, so Matt goes downstairs, where Moondragon and Ivan are decorating the Christmas tree. When the television news reports that Manhattan District Attorney Franklin P. Nelson has been shot by a sniper and is in critical condition at Metro General Hospital, Matt tells Ivan to make plane reservations so he and Natasha can go there at once to be with his old friend and law partner. However, Natasha refuses to accompany him, since Foggy prosecuted her on a false murder charge last year and she never wants to see him again. Disgusted by her attitude, Matt thinks she’s just using the situation to get back at him. When Moondragon offers to fly Matt to New York in her spacecraft, he accepts and goes to pack a bag. A few minutes later, Matt and Natasha part without a kiss or even an embrace, still angry with each other.
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En route to New York, Matt tries to express his feelings for Moondragon, but she cuts him off, dismissing their mutual attraction as a mere infatuation. She also makes it clear that Matt’s earthbound upbringing makes him too unsophisticated for a woman of her status. Feeling like a yokel from some backwater planet, Matt settles into an uncomfortable silence for the rest of the trip. When they finally arrive over Manhattan, Daredevil and Moondragon share a quick hug, then he swings down to the roof of the hospital. After changing out of his costume, Matt heads to the intensive care ward, where he finds Foggy’s girlfriend, Debbie Harris, as well as his parents, Edward and Anna Nelson. Matt is surprised to learn that Foggy also has a sister, Candace Nelson, whom he’s never spoken of. Candace laughs it off, saying Foggy always thought she was a bad influence on people. Getting permission from the doctor for a brief visit, Matt goes into Foggy’s room and finds him very weak and groggy. Nevertheless, Foggy tells Matt that the sniper attack was part of a gang war he’s been investigating—a crime wave instigated by a shadowy organization known as Black Spectre. He warns Matt of a plot to steal some government printing plates from an exhibition at the Federal Building, then passes out. After calling the doctor in, Matt decides to try to prevent the theft, hoping it will lead him to the sniper.
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Daredevil soon arrives at the Federal Building, and it’s not long before an old enemy, the Beetle, appears. Despite his best efforts, Daredevil is unable to keep the Beetle from snatching the printing plates, but he does manage to stop him from getting away by disabling his armor. However, the Beetle reveals that he knows nothing about Black Spectre or the attempt on the District Attorney’s life—he’s there strictly on his own initiative. Daredevil can sense that his foe is telling the truth, but before he can interrogate him further, a tear-gas grenade goes off, enabling two Black Spectre commandos to grab the printing plates and escape. Two guards from the Federal Building arrive as the tear gas is dissipating and attempt to arrest Daredevil, whom they assume to be an impostor. This enables the Beetle to reactivate his armor and fly off, preventing Daredevil from catching him by hurling a chunk of masonry at some pedestrians on the street below. Discouraged, Matt checks into the New York Hilton Hotel and goes to bed.
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Matt spends Christmas Day with Foggy and his family at the hospital. When the news reports a mysterious nuclear explosion on an island off the coast of Canada, Matt wonders if Black Spectre could be involved. Over the next week, Matt spends his days at the district attorney’s office going over Foggy’s files on Black Spectre, and at night he searches New York City as Daredevil for any sign of the Beetle, without success. Though glad to be back in his old hometown, he can’t shake the feeling that Black Spectre will strike again very soon.
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<b>Notes:</b>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>January 1966 –</b> The adventures of the Man Without Fear continue in <i>Daredevil</i> #97 and following. He and the Black Widow help the Avengers defeat Magneto in <i>Avengers</i> #111. Jann Wenner, featured in <i>Daredevil</i> #100, is a real person who will go on to start <i>Rolling Stone</i> magazine in San Francisco in 1967. Presumably, his experience interviewing Daredevil taught him not to ask superheroes a lot of questions about their secret identities.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>February 1966 –</b> In <i>Daredevil</i> #102, Carl Kaxton is misidentified as “William Klaxton.”
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>March 1966 –</b> Given that Daredevil recognized Carl Kaxton’s heartbeat after almost three years, it stands to reason that he would immediately recognize Spider-Man, whom he’s encountered several times, even though he’s not wearing his costume, which Daredevil can’t see anyway. Thus, <i>Daredevil</i> #103 is when Matt learns the webhead’s real name is Peter Parker. Spider-Man won’t discover that Daredevil is Matt Murdock until seven years later, in <i>Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man</i> #110. Presumably, Matt felt it would be unethical to reveal Spider-Man’s secret to Natasha, so he feigns ignorance on the subject.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>May 1966 –</b> The global wave of violence is caused by the invading demons of Sominus, as seen in <i>Adventure into Fear</i> #14–15. Almost immediately afterwards, Dormammu tries to annex the earth into his Dark Dimension in <i>Avengers</i> #118. Daredevil and the Black Widow remain behind the scenes in a sequence depicting various characters battling the monsters.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>October 1966 –</b> Matt regained the ability to see very briefly about two-and-a-half years ago when his mind was swapped into Doctor Doom’s body, as shown in <i>Daredevil</i> #37–38. However, he was trapped inside the Latverian embassy the entire time and didn’t see anyone except Daredevil-Doom and a couple of his guards. This time, the experience is completely different. Moondragon enhances Daredevil’s radar sense when she restores his powers.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>November 1966 –</b> Daredevil and the Black Widow make a brief cameo appearance in <i>Man-Thing</i> #1, just long enough to save Jennifer Kale from the firing squad.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>December 1966 –</b> Moondragon and Captain Marvel team up with the Avengers to defeat Thanos in <i>Captain Marvel</i> #31–33. It seems likely that telepathic manipulation by Moondragon is at least partly responsible for Matt and Natasha’s break-up, by amplifying Matt’s sexual desire as well as Natasha’s anger. Moondragon may not even be aware that she’s doing it, if it were a result of the subtle influence of the Dragon of the Moon on her psyche, a situation revealed in <i>Defenders</i> #138. The Christmas Eve nuclear explosion in Canada is a result of Hammerhead’s fight with Doctor Octopus in <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i> #131. Daredevil’s return to New York City brings us up to the flashback at the beginning of <i>Daredevil</i> #109.</span>
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<i><b>Jump To:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2022/03/omu-daredevil-year-six.html">Daredevil – Year Six</a></i>
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<i><b>Jump Back:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2016/06/omu-daredevil-year-four.html">Daredevil – Year Four</a></i>
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<i><b>Next Issue:</b> <a href="https://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2018/12/omu-iron-man-year-five.html">Iron Man – Year Five</a></i>
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<br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-38889902577630009322018-06-27T10:13:00.008-05:002023-10-03T16:37:57.606-05:00OMU: Hulk -- Year FiveThe <b>Hulk</b> continues to wander far and wide over the next twelve months in the character’s life, making his way from the frozen wastes of the Arctic to tropical islands in the Atlantic and from Montreal, Canada, to Sydney, Australia—not to mention visits to other planets, dimensions, and time periods. In fact, Hulk largely loses touch with his supporting cast, seeing them only briefly here and there in the course of his adventures. As such, his book follows two mostly separate tracks during this period, with a new character, Colonel John D. Armbruster, added to the mix but remaining just another anonymous soldier as far as Hulk is concerned. Artist Herb Trimpe continues his landmark run here, working primarily with writers Steve Englehart and Roy Thomas (with some assistance from other members of the Marvel Bullpen), giving the book a nice, consistent feel.
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<b>Note:</b> The following timeline depicts the <b>Original Marvel Universe</b> (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2004/12/the-original-marvel-universe.html">previous posts</a> for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
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Continuing on with… <b>The True History of the Incredible Hulk!</b>
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<b>January 1966 –</b> The Hulk wanders the snowy forests of Quebec, Canada, keeping a relatively low profile. Early in the month, he takes refuge within a cave and finds a newspaper on the ground. The headline announces a “battle of the sexes” in New York City between the Thing and a mystery woman called Thundra. Hulk recognizes his old foe, the Thing, but is confused as to why he would want to fight a girl.
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<b>February 1966 –</b> Hulk is about ten miles north of Montreal when he stumbles upon a military convoy and assumes they have come to attack him. He flips over the last personnel transport truck, sending it sliding into a ravine. Spider-Man appears a moment later and helps the soldiers as they open fire on the Hulk. Enraged, Hulk leaps away, landing at the Maskattawan Dam several miles down the Saint Lawrence River. There, Spider-Man attacks him again, then enters the control tower and causes water to start streaming through the dam. Frustrated by the “leaking wall,” Hulk smashes the control tower, causing a rain of boulders to carry him and Spider-Man into the ice-cold water. Hulk throws some of the boulders back to shore, then creates a large wave that swamps the convoy on the riverbank. Tired of fighting, Hulk leaps off to the south and soon comes upon a construction site on an island in the river, which is to be the site of next year’s International and Universal Exposition. Since the workers have all gone home for the evening, Hulk decides to spend the night there. A little later, though, a taxi nearly crashes into him as he is wandering around. Annoyed, Hulk rips up the road surface, flipping the taxi over. Almost immediately, Spider-Man turns up again and they continue their fight, causing tremendous damage to the fairgrounds. When some military helicopters arrive and start shooting at him, Hulk leaps away, losing his enemies in the darkness. Fed up, Hulk makes his way back to the wilderness.
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<b>March 1966 –</b> Hulk moves north through Quebec, circling around Hudson Bay, then continues on into the Northwest Territories and soon crosses the Arctic Circle. Though he enjoys the peace and quiet, the harsh conditions prevent the Hulk from changing back into Bruce Banner.
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<b>April 1966 –</b> Hulk is taken by surprise when a trio of U.S. Air Force fighter jets finds him wandering around the Arctic. While trying to escape the jets’ missile barrage, Hulk crashes through the polar ice cap and finds himself within a huge cavern. He is shocked to see a small city, with towers the size of office buildings, completely hidden under the ice. Five Russian soldiers in bulky suits of armor fly out of one of the buildings and attack the Hulk, managing to knock him out with a powerful sedative gas. When he wakes up, Hulk finds himself a prisoner of the Gremlin, a deformed genius who explains that his father was the Gargoyle, whom the Hulk encountered four years ago. Blaming the Hulk for his father’s death, the Gremlin intends to get revenge, but only after conducting a battery of tests on the Hulk for his own super-soldier project. However, a couple days later, the Gremlin administers too high a dose of the gas that was keeping the Hulk docile, causing him to change back into Bruce Banner. Confused and disoriented, Bruce is led to a holding cell, where he discovers that General Thaddeus E. “Thunderbolt” Ross is also being held prisoner. Bruce is struck by the irony when Ross insists that the Hulk is their only hope for escape. The next day, Bruce starts a fight with the guards when they escort him back to the Gremlin’s laboratory, and as he hoped, the stress triggers his transformation again. Unfortunately, Hulk then refuses to break Ross out of his cell, thinking of him as his greatest enemy, and leaves the old soldier behind as he smashes his way out of the Gremlin’s complex and makes his way back to the surface.
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Hulk crosses the polar ice cap and reaches the Arctic Ocean, intent on finding his way back to the deserts of New Mexico. After leaping from iceberg to iceberg for a while, he finally drops into the frigid water and starts swimming. A few hundred miles from shore, Hulk encounters a U.S. Navy submarine and punches a hole in the hull. The sub starts sinking, only to be captured by a gigantic vessel that rises from the ocean depths. Hulk is captured as well, stunned by an energy beam, and finds that the crew of the mysterious vessel is made up entirely of oddly large, squat men. The captain, however, is a rail-thin old man who introduces himself as Nathaniel Omen. He explains that his crew’s distorted physiques are due to life on the bottom of the ocean, which he is surveying in hopes of staking a legal claim to it. Hulk breaks out of the ship and tries to swim to the surface. However, he quickly gets the bends and passes out. When he comes to, he is Bruce Banner again and the shackled prisoner of Captain Omen. Bruce is shocked when Omen reveals that his submarine left the surface world behind at the end of World War I and has not surfaced since that time. In fact, most of his current crew has never even seen the sun, having lived their entire lives aboard the vessel, which has been greatly enlarged and upgraded over the decades. However, Omen’s abuse of his crew causes Bruce to change back into the Hulk, prompting Omen to order his men to attack him. The scene of the fight is then isolated from the rest of the ship and ejected into the ocean. Hulk breaks free but quickly realizes that was a mistake—he’s now trapped on the ocean floor with only a quick lungful of air. Omen drops the Hulk an oxygen helmet and orders him to follow the vessel on foot, like the slave he now is. Hulk grumbles but, seeing no way to escape his predicament, decides to comply.
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Sometime later, Hulk is rescued by rebel members of the crew and brought back aboard. He is taken to a secret meeting of a revolutionary sect led by Captain Omen’s son Filius, where he is hailed as their savior. Filius explains that his group wishes to escape from the captain’s tyranny and live on the surface world like normal people. Though he is befuddled by their reverence for some half-century-old surface-world trash, Hulk agrees to help them take over the ship. However, Omen is ready to deal with the mutiny and releases a massive half-man, half-fish creature called Aquon to battle the Hulk. After doing tremendous damage to the vessel, Hulk defeats Aquon, prompting Filius to declare victory. Reluctantly, Omen orders the ship to surface, whereupon Filius leads his group to a nearby tropical island. Hulk goes ashore with them, only to be horrified when the relatively low air pressure causes their bodies to explode into bloody pulps. To prevent the rest of his crew from meeting the same gruesome fate, Omen orders his ship to submerge. Left alone on the island, Hulk watches Captain Omen’s ship disappear beneath the waves, having completely forgotten that the crew of the Navy submarine is still trapped aboard.
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After swimming halfway across the Atlantic Ocean, Hulk pulls himself up onto a pier in the New York City harbor. Tired, he sits down behind some crates and falls asleep, changing back into Bruce Banner. When he wakes up, Bruce finds himself caught up in a crowd of people fleeing from a large monster—a humanoid form made of pure electricity calling itself “Zzzax.” The stress causes him to turn into the Hulk again, but their battle along the waterfront faces continual interference by the masked archer known as Hawkeye. Finally, Zzzax throws Hawkeye into the harbor, but the former Avenger shoots a cable-arrow through the monster’s form. When the arrow hits the water on the other side of the pier, Zzzax is apparently destroyed. Unable to see Hawkeye in the water, the bystanders assume the Hulk defeated Zzzax and cheer his victory. Annoyed, Hulk stomps off down the street, telling the puny humans to leave him alone. Hawkeye follows him, though, enraging the Hulk further. Luckily, the Sub-Mariner and the Valkyrie turn up and prevent them from getting into a fight. Instead, they all head over to Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum, where they are greeted by Clea and Wong. When an Atlantean warrior arrives with news that Attuma and his barbarian hordes are about to attack Atlantic City, New Jersey, Hulk agrees to join the Sub-Mariner, the Valkyrie, and Hawkeye in opposing them. When they reach the beach, Hulk enjoys smashing the giant mutated crabs Attuma has brought with him, but the fight is cut short when the Sub-Mariner is captured. The villain forces the Valkyrie and Hawkeye to surrender and board his warship. However, Hulk recognizes the vessel as a submarine and refuses to go aboard, not wanting to repeat the experience he had with Captain Omen. Instead, he leaps away and returns to New York City, where he stalks the back alleys for the next couple of weeks.
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<b>May 1966 –</b> Hulk is finally summoned back to the Sanctum Sanctorum by the astral projection of Doctor Strange. When he arrives, Hulk finds the Silver Surfer is there, too. Doctor Strange is concerned by the disappearance of the Sub-Mariner and the Valkyrie and, with the help of a magic spell, gets the Hulk to describe their battle with Attuma. The sorcerer then causes the Hulk to fall into a peaceful slumber, and when he awakens, Hulk sees that Attuma’s three captives have been rescued. He is annoyed to have been tricked but decides to postpone getting back at Doctor Strange so he can help rescue his friend, the Black Knight, from the enchantment that turned him to stone. Using the Orb of Agamotto, Doctor Strange calls forth the voice of the Black Knight from the void where his spirit is adrift. The voice reveals that their only hope to rescue the Black Knight is the ancient artifact known as the Evil Eye of Avalon. Though the Silver Surfer relates the tale of the Evil Eye’s recent destruction by the Human Torch, Doctor Strange is convinced it must still exist in some form and that the Defenders must find it, no matter what the cost. A friend of the Black Knight’s from their days in the Avengers, Hawkeye vows to join them on their quest, so the Defenders welcome him into their ranks. The Orb then reveals more of the history of the Evil Eye and its owner, the man known as Prester John. Next, it shows how, when the Evil Eye exploded in the Himalayas two and a half years ago, it split itself into six segments that were scattered across the globe. Doctor Strange sends the Hulk to retrieve the section located in Los Angeles, California, while the rest of the Defenders gather the other five pieces.
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Drawn to the Evil Eye’s hiding place by one of Doctor Strange’s spells, Hulk digs it up in the courtyard of a posh hotel. However, Thor arrives on the scene and demands that the arcane object be surrendered to him. Still harboring some bitterness over the way the Avengers treated him in the past, Hulk punches Thor in the face, sending him crashing into a brick wall. Thor retaliates, but the Hulk doesn’t become truly enraged until the thunder god claims to be his superior in battle. The ensuing fight tears up the street, but the two combatants quickly find themselves in a stalemate, each one’s super-strong muscles straining against the other’s as they grapple. Finally, their teammates show up—Doctor Strange, Sub-Mariner, Silver Surfer, Valkyrie, Hawkeye, Iron Man, Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, Vision, Swordsman, and Mantis—and convince them to stand down. The Defenders and the Avengers then compare notes and realize that Thor was fighting Loki in Rutland, Vermont, last Halloween at the same time that the Defenders were battling Dormammu there. They speculate that the two arch-villains must have teamed up. Their suspicions are confirmed when the six segments of the Evil Eye are suddenly stolen by Dormammu’s servant Asti the All-Seeing. Despite the best efforts of the assembled heroes, Asti escapes with the segments into another dimension.
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Almost immediately, the city around them begins to transform into a nightmarish world of horror, the people metamorphosing into monstrous demons. An image of Dormammu’s flaming head appears in the sky, announcing that he is using the Evil Eye to bring Earth into his Dark Dimension, thereby enabling him to conquer the planet without violating his oath to never invade our universe. The Defenders and the Avengers vow to prevent this at any cost. However, the transformed bystanders begin to attack the heroes, forcing them to fight back. Hulk helps keep the monsters at bay while Doctor Strange casts a spell to prevent any of the 14 superheroes present from changing into monsters themselves. The sorcerer then tries to convince Captain America that both teams need to take the fight directly to Dormammu in the Dark Dimension. Cap is reluctant to abandon the earth in such a time of crisis but relents when Nick Fury and the forces of S.H.I.E.L.D. arrive on the scene. Leaving Fury and his agents to deal with the monsters, Doctor Strange casts a spell to transport the Defenders and the Avengers into Dormammu’s realm.
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In the weird landscape of the Dark Dimension, Doctor Strange yells at the headstrong Avengers to keep them from blundering to their doom, prompting Thor to order his teammates to defer to the sorcerer’s expertise. Then, after beating off the numberless hordes of the Mindless Ones, the heroes find Dormammu, brandishing the Evil Eye, with Loki imprisoned in a cage of flames. To everyone’s surprise, the Watcher is also present, looking on enigmatically. Doctor Strange manages to breach the mystic barrier separating them, but with one wave of his hand, Dormammu’s augmented magic instantly renders the six Defenders unconscious. When Hulk comes to, he learns that the villains have already been defeated. The Watcher explains that the Scarlet Witch cast a last-second hex that caused the Evil Eye to malfunction, absorbing Dormammu’s flaming form and blasting it out again straight through Loki’s brain. Though the energies restored his lost sight, Loki’s mind was shattered in the process, leaving him with the intellect of an infant. Furthermore, the Watcher reveals, Dormammu will remain as scattered molecules until the psychic energy from his many worshipers eventually allows him to reform. Finally, the Watcher congratulates the 14 heroes on their great victory. Doctor Strange retrieves the Evil Eye, still intent on using it to rescue the Black Knight, and casts a spell that returns the two teams to Los Angeles.
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The Defenders and the Avengers materialize on the same street in L.A. to find the crisis is over. The people who had been transformed into monsters have reverted to normal and are wandering around the rubble-strewn streets in a daze. Nick Fury offers the two teams his congratulations on their victory. However, wishing to keep the existence of the Defenders a secret, Doctor Strange removes all memory of their involvement from Fury and his agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as well as any bystanders who witnessed their presence earlier in the day. Furthermore, he combines the power of the Evil Eye with his own sorcerous might to undo all damage and destruction the world over caused by Dormammu’s scheme, leaving everyone believing they had just suffered a mass hallucination. Finally, after bidding farewell to the Avengers, Strange teleports his team back to the Sanctum Sanctorum to attend to the Black Knight.
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Using the power of the Evil Eye, Doctor Strange attempts to locate Dane Whitman’s astral form again, but it has disappeared. He has only begun to explain the enigma to his teammates when they are suddenly enveloped in a nimbus of energy that carries them across space and time to deposit them in the Middle East in 1190 A.D. Here they discover that the Black Knight has taken physical form by possessing the body of his own ancestor, Eobar of Garrington, and has joined King Richard the Lionheart in fighting the Third Crusade. After a clash with an Arab army and a contingent of super-powerful gnomes, the Black Knight fills the Defenders in on what’s happening. The gnome alliance is due to the involvement of the spirit of Mordred, the villain of Camelot, who is aiding the wicked Prince John in his bid to overthrow King Richard. Since Mordred has manifested physically, a spell cast by Merlin plucked Dane Whitman’s astral form from limbo to give Eobar an advantage against his magical foe. The Defenders agree to help the Black Knight free King Richard from an Arab prison and defeat the gnomes. During the ensuing battle, the villains manage to get the upper hand when Prince John seizes the Evil Eye. He is about to turn its power on the Defenders when an elderly Prester John suddenly materializes and reclaims his weapon. After knocking the villains out, Prester John convinces the Black Knight to remain in the 12th century to help King Richard. Excited by the prospect and glad to have regained the Ebony Blade from the Valkyrie, Dane Whitman agrees. Finally, Prester John uses the Evil Eye to return the Defenders to their own era. Back in the Sanctum Sanctorum, Hawkeye elects not to continue his association with the team. Hulk, Sub-Mariner, and Silver Surfer also go their separate ways, leaving Doctor Strange and the Valkyrie wishing them well.
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<b>June 1966 –</b> Hulk suddenly finds himself teleported to a ghost town in the southwestern United States, where he gets into a fight with the Thing. Their battle lasts about 20 minutes and demolishes several buildings. Hulk realizes that his foe seems much stronger than he was in the past. Suddenly, a spaceship appears overhead and draws the Hulk into its cargo bay with a tractor beam. The Thing grabs Hulk’s ankle and is carried aloft with him. Aboard the ship, they encounter an alien called Kurrgo, whom the Thing accuses of having artificially enhanced his strength so he could beat the Hulk. Angered, Kurrgo sends his robot servant to attack them. Hulk and the Thing smash the robot, but it crashes into a control panel, setting the ship on fire. When the Thing jumps out through the cargo bay door, Hulk follows him. Tired of fighting the Thing, Hulk leaps away as the spaceship blows up behind him. Feeling that he misses Betty Ross Talbot, Hulk decides to finally resume his search for her.
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A few days later, Hulk is in a swampy marshland near John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York when he is found by Jim Wilson. Having a friend to talk to gets Hulk to relax, causing him to finally change back into Bruce Banner. Jim fills Bruce in on some of the things that have been happening the past few months, revealing that Major Glenn Talbot was killed while rescuing General Ross from the Russians. As a result, Betty had a complete mental breakdown and is currently getting treatment at a sanitarium on Long Island. Blaming himself for her woes, Bruce goes to see Betty, but she reacts violently. The stress triggers Bruce’s transformation into the Hulk, who is confused as to why Betty is hitting him. At first, he runs away but then decides to take Betty some flowers so she will like him again. When he returns to the sanitarium, Hulk finds M.O.D.O.K., wearing a giant prosthetic robot body, apparently spying on Betty. Hulk starts tearing the robot’s limbs off, forcing M.O.D.O.K. to flee. When Hulk goes into Betty’s room, however, he finds she has disappeared. The police and the sanitarium staff drive Hulk away, so Jim gives him a ride in the back of a pick-up truck out to the suburbs of Newark, New Jersey. There, Hulk meets Jim’s girlfriend, Talia Green, who isn’t too happy with Jim’s plan to have the Hulk hide out in her basement. Annoyed by Jim and Talia’s squabbling and intent on finding Betty, Hulk makes his way back to Manhattan, where he is attacked by a gigantic green bird-monster calling itself the Harpy. During their battle, Hulk is shocked to see that the Harpy has Betty’s face, enabling her to knock him out with a powerful energy blast.
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When he regains consciousness, Hulk finds himself and the Harpy in a strange city in the clouds, its only inhabitant a bizarre two-faced creature called the Bi-Beast. After a brief three-way battle, the Harpy is knocked out and the thin air causes the Hulk to change back into Bruce Banner. Learning that Bruce is a scientist, the Bi-Beast takes him to a laboratory and charges him with repairing the floating city’s decaying systems before it crashes back to earth. However, Bruce instead creates a device he hopes will restore Betty to her normal self. Unfortunately, the Bi-Beast discovers what he’s up to and angrily confronts him just as he’s activating the device. Bruce turns into the Hulk and fights with the Bi-Beast until the Harpy hits him in the back with an energy blast and knocks him out. When he comes to a few minutes later, he is Bruce Banner again and finds the Bi-Beast has been killed in a gun battle, but there is no sign of his assailants. The city is shaking itself apart, so Bruce pulls the dazed Harpy outside, thinking that at least she will be able to save herself by flying away. However, the cure finally takes effect and the Harpy changes back into Betty Talbot just as the ground caves in under them. As Bruce and Betty plummet to the ground eight miles below, the floating city is destroyed in a tremendous explosion.
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On the way down, Bruce turns into the Hulk, cradles Betty in his arms, and makes an explosive landing on a remote volcanic island. As a monsoon blows in, they take refuge in a cave, but Betty panics and flees into the jungle. Hulk searches for her for many hours and finally finds her being menaced by an alien rock monster. Hulk drives the creature off, then carries Betty back to the cave as another squall hits. As night falls, Betty becomes feverish and delirious and, after a hysterical fit, collapses into a restless sleep. Confused and worried, Hulk watches over her throughout the night. In the morning, she is in a calmer state of mind, and so they spend most of the day searching for food. At one point, they encounter a second monster lurking in a pool of water, but Hulk dispatches it with ease. Even so, Betty remains wary of the Hulk and recoils from his childlike affection. That night, after the Hulk has dozed off, Betty sneaks out of the cave, only to be captured by more of the alien monsters. When he discovers she is missing, Hulk tracks Betty and her captors to the island’s central volcano. He knocks the monsters into the lava, where they burn to death. As the volcano begins to erupt, Hulk grabs Betty and leaps to safety, landing in the jungle about a mile away. Luckily, the eruption draws the attention of a military search-and-rescue helicopter, which picks Betty up. Hulk grabs onto its landing struts as it takes off, then stows away aboard the Air Force jet that returns Betty to Hulkbuster Base in New Mexico.
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Hulk dozes off aboard the jet and changes back into Bruce Banner, who then finds a spare Air Force uniform and sneaks into the base’s underground complex. Overcome with exhaustion, Bruce falls asleep in an emergency bunker. When he wakes up 14 hours later, Bruce realizes that the base appears to be abandoned. He soon discovers Betty, General Ross, and other personnel locked in one of the containment cells meant for the Hulk. Before he can free them, though, he is caught by the Abomination, and the stress triggers his transformation into the Hulk. Suddenly, Hulk is attacked from behind by the Rhino, and he realizes two of his enemies have teamed up against him. Hulk retreats to the surface, where he finds Jim and Talia sneaking around the deserted base. Jim devises a plan to use Talia as bait to draw the Abomination and the Rhino to the surface, where Hulk can fight them out in the open. Though Talia objects to the idea, Jim is able to talk her into it. The plan works, and after a fierce brawl, Hulk is victorious when the Abomination and the Rhino crash into each other and are knocked out. As military reinforcements arrive, Jim emerges from the underground complex, having freed the base personnel. A TV news crew tries to interview the Hulk, but he does not cooperate. However, General Ross shakes the Hulk’s hand and expresses his gratitude for saving them from the two super-villains. Before Hulk can react, he is suddenly caught in a cage and gassed into unconsciousness.
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When he comes to, Hulk finds himself trapped in one of Hulkbuster Base’s containment cells. Convinced that General Ross tricked him, Hulk tries to smash through the cell walls. Then, Peter Corbeau appears behind a sliding panel and fires an energy beam that transports the Hulk into another dimension. However, he rematerializes inside the cell a moment later, but with the Juggernaut at his side. Though wary of trusting the Juggernaut, Hulk agrees to work together to break free. Their efforts are successful, and they fight their way through everything the Air Force throws at them and escape into the desert. Later that night, though, Hulk comes upon the Juggernaut menacing a family whose camper has crashed. Hulk fights with the unstoppable villain for several minutes, growing increasingly angry and frustrated. Finally, Hulk manages to tear off the Juggernaut’s helmet and smash him into a butte, knocking him out. Satisfied, Hulk drops the helmet and wanders off into the desert.
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<b>August 1966 –</b> After making his way east for several weeks, Hulk is attacked by Xemnu the Titan and knocked unconscious with a series of painful mental blasts. Sometime later, Hulk hears Doctor Strange’s voice in his mind, urging him to wake up and free himself. Realizing he is trapped inside a statue, Hulk breaks out and finds himself in the small Midwestern town of Plucketville, where Xemnu is directing the townsfolk into a nearby spaceship. Doctor Strange and Valkyrie are held prisoner by contorted lampposts and can only watch helplessly as Hulk battles Xemnu. Unable to defeat his angry foe a second time, Xemnu decides to retreat and levitates himself into the sky. However, Hulk picks up the spaceship and throws it at him, causing a tremendous explosion. With Xemnu apparently destroyed, Doctor Strange and Valkyrie are finally able to free themselves. They then convince the Hulk to accompany them back to New York City.
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Arriving at the Sanctum Sanctorum, Doctor Strange takes Hulk into the dining room for a meal Wong has prepared, as Valkyrie and Clea talk in the outer chamber. However, to Hulk’s surprise, he suddenly fades away in the middle of his repast and finds himself inside a tiny space capsule. Bursting out of the capsule, Hulk is left adrift in a featureless void and becomes distraught. Suddenly, he is transported to a star field where the Sub-Mariner is battling ghostly warplanes. After destroying all the airplanes, the confused pair passes through a dimensional warp into a mind-boggling mystical environment where Doctor Strange is being menaced by a phantom with a handgun. They rescue the sorcerer, who is bleeding profusely from a bullet wound, enabling him to cast a spell that returns them all to the Sanctum Sanctorum. There, Clea apologizes for inadvertently trapping them in the mystical void, and Strange admonishes her to be more careful in the future. As the Sub-Mariner is teleported back where he came from, Hulk returns to his dinner while Strange heals himself. The Defenders are able to convince Hulk to hang around the Sanctum Sanctorum off and on for the next couple of months, hoping to keep him out of trouble.
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<b>October 1966 –</b> While getting some exercise, Hulk drops into the middle of a construction site on the New Jersey Palisades, frightening the workers. When they try to drive him off, Hulk retaliates, destroying some of their equipment. Suddenly, he is afflicted by a strange buzzing sensation in his inner ear and leaps off in search of its source, determined to smash it. The buzzing grows more intense as he approaches the Catskills, and when the Human Torch drops out of the sky, Hulk suspects the young hero is the cause of his discomfort. However, the Torch leads the Hulk to an alien called Blastaar, who is wrecking a nearby factory with explosive energy blasts from his hands. Realizing that Blastaar is somehow to blame for the buzzing in his ears, Hulk attacks him, giving the Human Torch a chance to evacuate the last few people from the factory. At the Torch’s suggestion, Hulk wraps Blastaar up in a ball of metal wreckage from the factory and sends it hurtling toward the Atlantic Ocean some 600 miles away. As the buzzing in his ears fades, Hulk is glad that the Human Torch was able to help him solve his problem. He soon returns to the Sanctum Sanctorum and his other friends.
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<b>November 1966 –</b> Hulk and Valkyrie are listening to Doctor Strange’s tales of the occult when the Sanctum Sanctorum is invaded by a costumed man who battles them when they try to drive him off. Finally, Doctor Strange stops the fight and gives the man the opportunity to speak his piece. The man introduces himself as Nighthawk, former member of the super-villain team known as the Squadron Sinister. He has come seeking help to stop his evil associates from flooding the earth with a doomsday weapon they have created with the help of an alien speculator called Nebulon, the Celestial Man. Nighthawk had sought out the Avengers first, he explains, but Nebulon’s powers had rendered him invisible and intangible as soon as he entered Avengers Mansion. Luckily, he overheard the team discussing the Defenders’ role in defeating Dormammu and Loki a few months ago, and so he rushed over to find them. Suddenly, Nighthawk is apparently disintegrated right before their eyes. Faced with this impending crisis, Doctor Strange forcibly recruits the Sub-Mariner over the Atlantean monarch’s strident objections. Namor is furious, but the Valkyrie convinces him to stay and fight by their side. Hulk is curious about Namor’s new black costume, but he refuses to discuss it.
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By dawn, the Defenders locate the Squadron Sinister and their doomsday device somewhere in the Arctic and, to their surprise, find Nighthawk being held prisoner there. After an initial skirmish with the Squadron Sinister, the Defenders are captured by Nebulon and imprisoned within a spherical force field. Intending for them to witness the destruction of their world, Nebulon sends Hulk, Doctor Strange, Sub-Mariner, Valkyrie, and Nighthawk into orbit. However, they manage to break out of the force field and return to the Arctic in time to delay completion of the doomsday weapon. Doctor Strange’s magic then reveals Nebulon’s true form, that of a hideous non-humanoid creature. Nighthawk takes advantage of the distraction to activate the doomsday device and turn it against Nebulon. The alien creature disappears in a thunderous implosion, taking the Squadron Sinister with him. However, the weapon overloads and explodes before Nighthawk can jump clear. He is mortally wounded in the blast and lies close to death as the Defenders gather around him. Doctor Strange says Nighthawk’s only hope is if each of the Defenders sacrifices a small portion of their own life-essence, to be channeled through the sorcerer’s magic amulet to heal his wounds. They agree, moved by Nighthawk’s heroic self-sacrifice. The spell is successful and Nighthawk recovers immediately. Out of profound gratitude, Nighthawk asks if he might join their team. Doctor Strange tries to explain that they’re not really a team as such, but Namor interrupts angrily, saying that he is terminating his association with the Defenders, so they might as well accept Nighthawk as his replacement. Namor flies off, and the remaining Defenders agree to give Nighthawk a chance. Though Doctor Strange, Valkyrie, and Nighthawk head back to New York City, Hulk decides to strike out on his own again.
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A week later, Hulk stows away aboard a ship after being chased out of San Diego, California, by the Army. After changing back into Bruce Banner, he meets another stowaway named Ted. They manage to evade the crew for a few days but are finally captured and taken to face the commander of the expedition, former Stark Industries scientist Ralph Roberts, who turns out to be Ted’s older brother. After explaining about his past misadventures as the Cobalt Man, Ralph reveals that they are headed to the site of an upcoming French atomic-bomb test in order to protest such above-ground nuclear detonations. When they arrive, though, Ralph refuses to enter the radiation-proof chamber in the ship’s hold and instead exposes himself to the radiation from the nuclear blast. Ted runs out on deck to stop his brother, prompting Bruce to try to shield him from the radiation with his own body. Bruce is reminded of the day almost five years ago when he had to save another young man, Rick Jones, from a nuclear bomb. Ralph is mutated by the radiation into a superhuman form and quickly dons his redesigned armor to become Cobalt Man again. The stress causes Bruce to change into the Hulk, though the radiation he absorbed makes it difficult to maintain his transformation. In the brief time that he is the Hulk, his battle with Cobalt Man sinks the ship, but before Bruce drowns in the ocean, Cobalt Man rescues him and leaves him in a lifeboat with Ted and the crew. Ted tries to convince his brother to go to a hospital for treatment, but Cobalt Man ignores him and swims off. Dazed and exhausted, Bruce passes out.
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When he regains consciousness, Bruce finds himself in a hospital room in Sydney, Australia. Both General Ross and Betty are there, having heard what happened from the ship’s crew. Bruce becomes very agitated when he learns that Cobalt Man is still on the loose, but the doctors are able to sedate him before he changes into the Hulk. Later, though, Betty gives him a mild stimulant to counteract the sedative’s effects and leads the groggy Bruce to the hospital’s roof. She nearly pushes him off the building before he realizes what she’s doing, but in the ensuing struggle he stumbles over the edge anyway. Bruce turns into the Hulk before he hits the ground and stomps off down the street, confused and angry. When he comes upon Cobalt Man ranting and raving high atop a suspension bridge, Hulk attacks him despite his own radiation-induced weakness. However, Hulk’s strength increases as his anger grows, leading Cobalt Man to fly him straight up into the sky, hoping to suffocate him. Instead, Cobalt Man suddenly unleashes a powerful explosion when the energies in his body reach a critical point, propelling Hulk across the sky at the very edge of space. Hulk finally crashes back to earth some 6,000 miles away in the Himalayas.
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Bruce Banner crawls out of the hole in the ground made by the Hulk and is surprised to find the royal family of the Inhumans—Black Bolt, Gorgon, Karnak, Triton, Crystal, and her fiancé Quicksilver—on the scene. Triton identifies Bruce from the Fantastic Four’s records, so they escort him back to the Great Refuge. There, Bruce is astonished by the large spacecraft they have constructed. Karnak explains that they have discovered the existence of Counter-Earth and are considering immigrating there. Bruce decides to take a walk and wonders if he should ask to join the Inhumans if they decide to move to another planet. However, he is accosted by a gang of malcontents in the street, and the stress causes him to turn into the Hulk. Gorgon, Karnak, Triton, and Quicksilver try to subdue the Hulk without success. Finally, Black Bolt is forced to intervene and manages to knock the Hulk out with his super-powerful voice, although the shockwave demolishes several buildings as well. When he regains consciousness, Hulk finds the Inhumans have launched him into space aboard their colony ship. He lashes out at his high-tech prison, causing damage to its navigational and propulsion systems, but eventually settles down when he realizes he is trapped aboard a spaceship.
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<b>December 1966 –</b> When the Inhumans’ colony ship finally splashes down on Counter-Earth, Hulk is lulled to sleep as it bobs on the surface of the ocean, whereupon he changes back into Bruce Banner. Bruce awakens sometime later in a military hospital, where he is accused of being an impostor and interrogated about a superhuman menace called “Adam Warlock.” The stress causes Bruce to change back into the Hulk and rampage through the planet’s counterpart of Washington, D.C. His battle with the armed forces results in the destruction of their Washington Monument, but the Hulk is then knocked out and captured by a quartet of the High Evolutionary’s New Men. He comes to later as Bruce Banner to find the New Men are experimenting on him under the direction of their leader, the Man-Beast, which quickly causes him to turn into the Hulk again. He escapes the laboratory by breaking through the floor into a labyrinth of tunnels under the city, where he is met by another group of New Men. Hulk recognizes their leader, Porcunius, from his brief visit to Counter-Earth last year and agrees to accompany them to their secret base in an abandoned power station. There, Hulk is introduced to Adam Warlock and an alien robot called the Recorder.
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Over the next few days, Hulk stays with Adam Warlock and his followers, enjoying their philosophical discussions and learning of their plans to overthrow the Man-Beast’s tyrannical regime. However, during supper one night, Hulk is driven berserk by a brain implant the Man-Beast had placed in his skull while he was unconscious. Lashing out in a blind rage, Hulk attacks his friends, providing a distraction that allows the Man-Beast and his minions to storm in and capture them all. The implant’s control unit is destroyed in the fight, but the Man-Beast has another weapon that renders all the rebels, including the Hulk, unconscious. Bruce Banner comes to the next day in a holding cell, where he remains for the better part of a week, kept sedated to prevent him from turning into the Hulk. Bruce is horrified to learn that the Man-Beast, while disguised as a man named Rex Carpenter, is actually Counter-Earth’s President of the United States. Finally, Bruce is taken to witness Warlock’s public execution on the White House lawn, where “President Carpenter” has assembled a bloodthirsty mob of supporters. Pinned to a large ankh-shaped platform, Warlock cries out for the High Evolutionary as he dies in agony under a barrage of lethal rays. As the life leaves his body, a cocoon of some unknown material completely envelops Warlock. The sheer horror of the spectacle enables Bruce to overcome the sedatives in his system and change into the Hulk. After scattering the police and defeating the Man-Beast’s lieutenants, Hulk grabs Warlock’s cocoon and leaps off into the surrounding countryside. Wishing Doctor Strange were there to advise him, Hulk tries to revive his fallen friend, without success. He finally gives up and sits with the cocoon through the night, overcome with grief.
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Just before dawn, Adam Warlock’s followers find the Hulk, having escaped from their captors during yesterday’s chaos. They move the cocoon into a nearby cave and spend the day in mourning. The following day, they receive word that the Man-Beast is intent on starting a nuclear war. Hulk joins them on a raid of the villain’s command center, where his destructive fight with the Man-Beast is suddenly cut short when Adam Warlock turns up alive. Hulk is shocked but glad to see his friend is not dead after all. More powerful following his resurrection, Warlock releases a blast of energy that causes all the New Men, including the Man-Beast, to devolve back into their original forms. The wolf that had been their foe then runs out of the room with its tail between its legs. Warlock announces that he must leave Counter-Earth to seek his destiny among the stars. Feeling strangely at peace with himself, Hulk watches as Warlock rises into the sky and soon disappears from sight. The Recorder then takes charge of the Hulk and, after conferring with the High Evolutionary, convinces him to return home, as they feel his continued presence on Counter-Earth would be too disruptive. A lunar exploration rocket is modified for the long journey around the sun and soon blasts off from their version of Florida, carrying the Hulk back toward Earth.
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<b>Notes:</b>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>January 1966 –</b> Hulk makes a cameo appearance in <i>Fantastic Four</i> #133.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>February 1966 –</b> While in Canada, Hulk runs into Spider-Man in <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i> #119–120.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>April 1966 –</b> Hulk’s adventures pick up again in <i>Hulk</i> #163 and <i>Defenders</i> #7. The hidden city beneath the polar ice cap where Hulk meets the Gremlin is probably the abandoned refuge of the Kallusians, last seen in <i>Avengers</i> #14.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>May 1966 –</b> Hulk guest-stars in <i>Avengers</i> #116–118 as part of the Avengers/Defenders crossover event.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>June 1966 –</b> Hulk and the Thing have their third battle royal in <i>Marvel Feature</i> #11. Hulk seems to remain unaware that the Leader is responsible for teleporting him to the ghost town for the fight. In <i>Hulk</i> #169, the Bi-Beast is killed when M.O.D.O.K. and his A.I.M. commandos try to take over the floating island, but they retreat before Bruce regains consciousness. As a result of her transformation into the Harpy, Betty Talbot actually spends the entire next issue completely naked, but her modesty is preserved thanks to the Comics Code Authority. At the end of <i>Hulk</i> #172, Professor X, Cyclops, and Marvel Girl turn up to deal with the Juggernaut, but the Hulk has already left the scene.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>August 1966 –</b> Hulk, Doctor Strange, and the Sub-Mariner fall victim to Clea’s wayward spell in <i>Giant-Size Defenders</i> #1.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>October 1966 –</b> Hulk joins forces with the Human Torch to defeat Blastaar in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #18.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>November 1966 –</b> In the Original Marvel Universe, Ted Roberts dies of radiation poisoning about a year after the events of <i>Hulk</i> #173. Interestingly, in <i>Hulk</i> #175, Black Bolt essentially condemns the Hulk to death, since the Inhumans reprogram their spaceship to miss Counter-Earth and fly off into interstellar space. It is only because Hulk starts damaging the ship’s control systems that it reverts to its original course.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>December 1966 –</b> While the death and resurrection of Adam Warlock is an obvious homage to the Passion of the Christ, the Man-Beast’s four lieutenants are based on the Watergate figures John Mitchell (Barachuudar), H.R. Haldeman (Cobrah), John Erlichman (Weezhil), and John Dean (Snakar). Porcunius is misidentified as “Porcupinus” throughout the story. This brings us up to <i>Hulk</i> #178 and <i>Defenders</i> #14.
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<i><b>Jump Back:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2016/04/omu-hulk-year-four.html">Hulk – Year Four</a></i>
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<i><b>Next Issue:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2018/08/omu-daredevil-year-five.html">Daredevil – Year Five</a></i>
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<br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-7344878309509126882018-04-14T10:13:00.007-05:002023-09-29T16:29:44.985-05:00OMU: Fantastic Four -- Year SixThe <b>Fantastic Four</b> continue on a downward spiral, barely managing to hang together as a team, under the guidance of editor Roy Thomas and writer Gerry Conway. Without the Invisible Girl, the group soon splinters, with Mister Fantastic suffering from severe depression, the Human Torch likewise heartbroken and adrift, and the Thing increasingly striking out on his own. If Susan Storm Richards was the glue that held the Fantastic Four together, her replacement, the cool, detached Inhuman Medusa, is not equipped to do the same job. And unfortunately, over the course of the next twelve months in the characters’ lives, matters merely go from bad to worse. During that time, members of the team have strange run-ins with some of their more obscure early foes, such as the Miracle Man, the Molecule Man, the alien dictator Kurrgo, and billionaire Gregory Gideon, not to mention the Mole Man and Doctor Doom. This lends an air of nostalgia to the proceedings that suggests the Fantastic Four’s best days may be behind them.
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<b>Note:</b> The following timeline depicts the <b>Original Marvel Universe</b> (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2004/12/the-original-marvel-universe.html">previous posts</a> for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
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Let us continue with... <b>The True History of the Fantastic Four!</b>
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<b>January 1966 –</b> Ben Grimm and Alicia Masters are in Manhattan’s Times Square to ring in the new year. Medusa has accompanied them, wanting to witness the annual ritual, and has dragged Reed Richards and Johnny Storm along, even though they are both very depressed. The event is disrupted by Thundra, who issues a public challenge to the Thing to meet her in combat in three days at Shea Stadium. The illuminated sign on the Allied Chemical Building reads out the details of the challenge for all to see. Ignoring the danger to the innocent bystanders, Johnny flames on and attacks Thundra, but she easily defeats him and sends him crashing into his teammates. Thundra then grabs Alicia and flies off with her on a large anti-gravity disk, obviously provided by her associates in the Frightful Four. The Thing is enraged as the Fantastic Four race back to their Baxter Building headquarters to see if there’s a way to track Thundra to her hideout. Unable to help in the lab, the Thing starts training for the grudge match and is frustrated when his teammates fail to find where Alicia is being held. Over the next couple of days, there is a media frenzy over the upcoming “battle of the sexes,” which some newspapers are touting as “the fight of the century.”
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Before dawn on the morning of the fight, the Thing and the Human Torch help the grounds crew at Shea Stadium clear the ballfield of snow under the harsh stadium lights. While they work, the stadium fills with eager spectators who have braved the cold to witness the battle. As the first rays of light streak the sky, Thundra descends on her anti-gravity disk to meet the Thing in the infield. She announces her intention to defeat the world’s strongest man in full view of the public, though her motivations remain mysterious. As they start to fight, the Thing is astonished by his opponent’s sheer strength and realizes he can’t afford to think of her as “just a woman.” Then, to the consternation of the crowds, Thundra picks the Thing up and hurls him out of the stadium, sending him crashing to the ground in Flushing Meadows Park across the street. They continue their fight atop the Unisphere, where Thundra clearly gets the better of him, though Ben refuses to concede defeat. Finally, Mister Fantastic arrives and shoots an energy beam at the Thing that temporarily changes him back to his human form. Outraged at being cheated of her victory and saying it would be “unfeminine” to hurt a weakling, Thundra flies off. The Thing is unconscious for several minutes, but when he comes to, he sees Johnny escorting Alicia toward him. She reports that Thundra forced her compatriots to release her, and Ben is impressed with Thundra’s code of honor. The Fantastic Four then return home, wondering why Thundra was so eager to beat the Thing in a duel.
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Some days later, Luke Cage, the “Hero for Hire” who’s been working out of Times Square the last few months, storms into the Baxter Building and requests help getting to Latveria, as Doctor Doom owes him money and he means to collect. Amused, Reed agrees to lend Cage an airship, overruling Ben’s objections. He programs an experimental drone plane to fly Cage to Doctor Doom’s kingdom on autopilot. Several hours later, Cage returns and strides back into their headquarters. Reed at first assumes that something went wrong and Cage didn’t make it to Latveria, but Cage assures him that everything went smoothly and the matter is resolved. Ben follows Cage out of the building, pressing him for more details of his encounter with Doctor Doom, but Cage remains tight-lipped. Reed examines the rocket’s flight logs and sees that Cage did indeed spend a couple hours in Latveria before returning to New York. Impressed, Reed thinks better of Cage’s offer to lend a hand should the Fantastic Four ever need his help. Ben is flabbergasted when the late edition of the <i>Daily Bugle</i> reports that Doctor Doom has fought off a robot rebellion to retain control of his kingdom and wonders what Cage’s role in the incident was.
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Meanwhile, Susan Richards and her 17-month-old son Franklin are living on a horse farm in rural Pennsylvania owned by Sue’s childhood friend Carol Landers and her husband Bob. Sue devotes herself to raising Franklin, though she also helps out with the horses. She is concerned from time to time by Franklin’s odd behavior and wonders if he might be autistic. Her brother Johnny flies out to the farm periodically to visit her and Franklin and to bring news of the Fantastic Four’s activities. Sue is sympathetic to Johnny’s broken heart, for he’s lost his girlfriend Crystal to another man—the obnoxious former Avenger called Quicksilver. Sue also explains to Johnny some of the issues that are keeping her and Reed apart, and he remains steadfastly supportive of his sister.
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<b>February 1966 –</b> Johnny is home alone at the Baxter Building one Sunday morning when Spider-Man mysteriously appears in the laboratory housing Reed’s time machine. Spider-Man explains that he was attempting to help Iron Man penetrate a force field surrounding Avengers Mansion when they fell into a strange dimension, where they were picked up by a time-traveler named Zarrko. He took them to 23rd-century New York to help fight off an invader from even further in the future. That turned out to be Kang the Conqueror, who was holding the rest of the Avengers prisoner. Kang incapacitated Spidey and Iron Man, but then Zarrko entered and revealed that he was just as much a villain as Kang. Having read about Zarrko in the Avengers’ files, Johnny laughs at Spider-Man’s ineptitude. The wall-crawler continues, revealing that Zarrko has sent three chronal-displacement bombs to the present day, hoping to steal America’s nuclear arsenal during the resulting chaos. The bombs should soon be materializing in Greece, Japan, and Venezuela, Spidey reports, and he hopes the Fantastic Four can locate and destroy them. Johnny agrees to help but notes that the rest of the team is unavailable so it’s up to the two of them. Spider-Man whines about that, clearly having hoped to pass the buck to the Fantastic Four, but Johnny lays a guilt trip on him. And so, while Spidey heads to Venezuela, Johnny launches the team’s Pogo Plane and flies to Japan. Arriving a few hours later, the Human Torch flames on and flies around the archipelago until he comes across the time-distortion effect caused by Zarrko’s bomb. Finding the bomb inside a barn, the Torch starts to black out as he approaches it, so he quickly melts the device into slag. As he takes the Pogo Plane to rendezvous with Spider-Man in Venezuela, Johnny notes that there was something familiar about the waves of energy emanating from the chronal-displacement bomb.
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Many hours later, the Human Torch finds Spider-Man on a pier near Simón Bolivar International Airport outside Caracas. A second chronal-displacement bomb is producing the same distinctive energy waves, and Spider-Man is clearly being affected by it just as Johnny was. Thus, the Torch melts this bomb to slag as well. After comparing notes, the two heroes take the Pogo Plane to Greece, where they again get caught in chronal-displacement waves. After crash-landing the Pogo Plane, the Torch is about to melt the third bomb when Spider-Man stops him. The wall-crawler merely switches the device off instead, pointing out that they need to examine it for clues. Johnny then realizes where he’s encountered that type of radioactivity before—it’s very similar to the force field Maximus generated around the Great Refuge of the Inhumans a couple years ago. However, Johnny is unwilling to go to the Great Refuge, since he doesn’t want to see Crystal—especially with it being Valentine’s Day. Leaving Spider-Man with detailed instructions on how to find the Inhumans’ hidden city in the Himalayas, the Human Torch departs, confident that Spidey and the Inhumans can rescue the Avengers and defeat Kang and Zarrko. Johnny spends the next few days enjoying the Greek Isles while making repairs to the Pogo Plane. When he finally returns to New York, Johnny finds his teammates were too wrapped up in their own affairs to even notice his impromptu vacation.
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<b>March–April 1966 –</b> As Black Bolt requested, Medusa spends much of her time studying the social mores of New York, taking the city as representative of human culture, with an eye toward determining how to reveal the existence of the Inhumans to the world at large in the most productive way possible. However, her efforts are hampered somewhat by her refusal to be seen without her ceremonial facemask, the mark of royal status among her people. Also, she is frustrated that the Fantastic Four aren’t really doing anything, as Reed Richards is too depressed to do more than putter around in his laboratory at all hours of the day and night. For his part, Reed focuses on trying to perfect a cure for Ben, encouraged by the temporary change effected in early January. Aside from distracting him from his marital troubles, Reed feels he owes it to his old friend not to wreck his life too.
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<b>May 1966 –</b> The Fantastic Four finally go into action as a team when people all around the world inexplicably start changing into hideous, demonic monsters. Soon, New York itself also starts to transform into a weird, alien landscape. While trying to contain the rampaging monsters in the streets, the Fantastic Four run into Spider-Man, and they coordinate their efforts. Less than an hour after it began, the city suddenly changes back to normal and the demons revert to their ordinary human forms. A couple minutes later, all the tremendous damage done to the city during the battle is abruptly undone, as if by magic. Later, the Avengers report that the entire incident was merely a mass hallucination created by a super-villain whom they have defeated, but Reed suspects there’s more to the story than that.
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In response to an urgent summons from Agatha Harkness, the Fantastic Four fly up to Whisper Hill, but they find only a large smoking crater where the house had been. To Ben’s consternation, Reed gives up on the investigation almost immediately and decides they should return to the Baxter Building. En route, the Fantasti-Car is hit by an energy beam that causes it to crash in a meadow. After searching briefly for their unseen assailant, the four heroes slowly make their way back to Manhattan. When they arrive, Reed receives a call from a frantic Carol Landers, who reports that Sue and Franklin have been kidnapped by Dragon Man. He departs immediately in one of the older Fantasti-Cars, leaving Ben, Johnny, and Medusa behind. On his way to Pennsylvania, Reed is notified by his contacts at the Strategic Air Command that they’ve tracked Dragon Man to a research installation on Long Island, so he changes course. When he arrives, Reed spots Dragon Man lying unconscious outside the facility and lands near the android. However, he is taken by surprise by a squad of security guards and gassed into unconsciousness. A short time later, Ben and Medusa arrive on the Jet-Cycle, having traced the Fantasti-Car’s homing signal. Before they can begin their search of the grounds, though, the pair is captured as well.
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Meanwhile, Johnny has gone to the Bronx to look up his old girlfriend Dorrie Evans. He is shocked to find that Dorrie has gotten married and already has two small children. Embarrassed, Johnny makes up an excuse and leaves quickly, only to be attacked down the street by the same kind of energy beam that crashed the Fantasti-Car earlier. Spotting the flying drone that is firing at him, Johnny flames on and follows the small craft to the Long Island research installation, where he finds Dragon Man lying in the grass. However, the android creature revives and blasts the Torch into unconsciousness with his flame-breath. When he comes to, Johnny discovers that he and his teammates have been taken prisoner by Gregory Gideon, the wealthy financier with whom the Fantastic Four clashed about three years ago. Medusa explains that Gideon and his son Thomas are dying of radiation poisoning and Gideon believes he can find a cure by absorbing the Fantastic Four’s radiation-spawned powers into himself. While Gideon subjects the unconscious Reed, Sue, and Franklin to his “Eternity Machine,” the Thing, the Human Torch, and Medusa break free and start fighting the security guards. Thomas Gideon enters during the fray and begs his father to stop, but the older man ignores him. Using her prehensile hair, Medusa manages to disable the brain implant Gideon was using to control Dragon Man. The creature goes berserk, turns on its master, and wrecks the Eternity Machine. The resulting explosion kills Gregory Gideon and puts Dragon Man into a coma. Sue revives first and, wanting to avoid a confrontation with Reed, takes Franklin and leaves the facility. After several minutes, Ben, Johnny, and Medusa become concerned that Reed has yet to regain consciousness, so they rig the wrecked Eternity Machine to discharge the energies that it absorbed. As they hoped, the jolt of energy revives Reed, though he is disoriented and confused at first. After making a cursory examination of the inert Dragon Man, Reed invites Thomas Gideon to accompany them back to the Baxter Building, offering to try to devise a cure for his radiation sickness. Gideon accepts, and they depart. Ben, Johnny, and Medusa honor Sue’s parting request that they not tell Reed that she and Franklin were there.
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On their way back to the Baxter Building, though, a strange wave of energy sweeps past them, causing the Fantasti-Car and the Jet-Cycle to crash in a wooded area of suburban Long Island. To their astonishment, the Fantastic Four are then attacked by a group of young men dressed like a 1950s biker gang, riding on flying motorcycles and shooting laser guns. Mister Fantastic and the Thing fight the bikers very aggressively, though the Human Torch and Medusa feel sympathetic to the young men. Thus, when the bikers retreat after having grabbed Thomas Gideon, Johnny and Medusa go with them. The authorities, in the form of middle-aged men with crewcuts and 3-D glasses, arrive in flying Edsels and complement Reed and Ben on fighting off the youngsters. They escort the two heroes to their domed fortress, which reminds Reed of a fallout shelter, and interrogate them. Meanwhile, the biker gang takes Johnny, Medusa, and Thomas Gideon to their hangout in a local malt shop, where they meet the gang’s leader, “Wildman”—a combination of Elvis Presley, Marlon Brando, and James Dean. Johnny begins to realize that they are trapped in some kind of nightmare version of the Fifties, though of course it’s all lost on Medusa. After being indoctrinated by the warring factions, the two halves of the Fantastic Four are sent out to fight over a doomsday weapon created by a reclusive genius. Luckily, Reed and Ben quickly shake off their mental conditioning and are able to bring Johnny and Medusa out of it after a brief scuffle. The doomsday weapon turns out to be a giant gorilla with a head like Sputnik, which the Fantastic Four battle at a drive-in movie theater. Reed deduces that they’re being manipulated by some outside force capable of twisting the very fabric of reality, and he is proven right when a bizarre-looking alien calling himself the Shaper of Worlds reveals himself. The Shaper apologizes for creating such a violent scenario, admitting that his source—one of Gregory Gideon’s henchmen—was not worthy of having his dreams manifested. The Shaper then offers to replace him with Thomas Gideon, who will be cured of his terminal illness in exchange for the use of his imagination. Gideon accepts the offer and teleports away with the Shaper. The Fantastic Four suddenly find themselves back in their vehicles heading toward Manhattan.
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When they enter their headquarters, the Fantastic Four are surprised to find Wyatt Wingfoot waiting for them. Wyatt has come to invite them to attend his graduation from Metro College tomorrow, and he also hopes they will be willing to fly out to Oklahoma afterwards as he believes his tribe’s reservation is under threat. Johnny, Ben, and Medusa agree immediately but Reed declines, though he is impressed that Wyatt completed his undergraduate degree in only three years. Retiring to his laboratory, Reed leaves the others to get caught up. He is worried that the house on Whisper Hill may have been destroyed by Franklin’s mutant powers running amok. He theorizes that the energies of Annihilus’s cosmic control rod, to which Franklin was exposed at birth, may have altered the boy’s genetic structure and could cause his mutant powers to manifest well before puberty. Thus, Reed starts working on developing a means to shut down those powers should it become necessary. He will work on the problem obsessively for the next several months.
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The next morning, Ben, Johnny, and Medusa fly Wyatt to the Metro College campus in the Pogo Plane. During the graduation ceremony, Johnny becomes wistful, regretting somewhat his decision to drop out of college. He feels extremely proud of Wyatt as he receives his diploma from the college president. After the ceremony, Ben and Johnny accompany Wyatt to a reception for the honors graduates while Medusa is given a tour of campus by some fraternity guys who are fans of hers. At the reception, Johnny runs into the football coach, Sam Thorne, who laments never having managed to convince Wyatt to join his team. Before Coach Thorne gets a chance to talk to his old classmate Ben Grimm, though, Wyatt is informed that his grandfather has telephoned with news of an emergency on the reservation. Ben, Johnny, and Wyatt collect Medusa and race to the Pogo Plane, then take off for Oklahoma.
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When they arrive at the Keewazi Indian Reservation, they are greeted by Wyatt’s grandfather, Chief Silent Fox, who tells them that a demon from the Dark Hills has just destroyed a nearby village, forcing the inhabitants to seek refuge with Silent Fox and his neighbors. The “demon” turns out to be the Miracle Man, whom the Fantastic Four defeated over four years ago. At first, Ben and Johnny laugh off their foe’s attacks, taking him to be a mere illusionist. However, the Miracle Man reveals that he has gained actual mind-over-matter powers from the legendary Cheemuzwa tribe, reputed to be a race of immortal sorcerers. Escaping from the Miracle Man’s death-traps, the Thing, the Human Torch, and Medusa fight a hopeless battle against their raving foe, who seems to only grow more powerful. Suddenly, the Miracle Man is teleported away by the ghostly Cheemuzwa elders, who take responsibility for his rampage and promise to try to cure him of his insane lust for power. After enjoying some Keewazi hospitality, Ben, Johnny, and Medusa say goodbye to Wyatt and return to New York.
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While out for an evening stroll, the Thing is tricked into fighting Captain Marvel by the Super-Skrull, who fools each hero into thinking the other is a Skrull impostor. After a battle that wrecks a tenement building in Hell’s Kitchen, the Thing and Captain Marvel realize their folly. Hearing a horrible, inhuman scream, they race up to the top floor and break down a door, finding a Skrull who’s been turned to stone. A massive, craggy-faced alien steps out of the shadows, claiming responsibility for the Skrull’s fate. He introduces himself as Thanos, king of Titan and soon-to-be emperor of the universe. Ben is not impressed by the alien’s boasts, but just looking at the mysterious hooded figure behind Thanos gives him the chills. Even so, the Thing charges at Thanos, only to be knocked out by a powerful blast of energy. When he comes to, Ben finds himself alone. Unable to locate Captain Marvel, Thanos, the Super-Skrull, or their mysterious associate, the Thing heads back to the Baxter Building, thinking that the alien superhero is in for the fight of his life.
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On another evening, Spider-Man drops by the Baxter Building to present the Human Torch with a unique opportunity—the chance to design and build a “Spider-Mobile” from scratch to promote an experimental non-polluting engine created by Corona Motors. Spidey explains that he’s been offered money for the project by an advertising firm representing Corona but lacks the mechanical engineering skills to pull it off. Amused by the notion, Johnny agrees to kick some ideas around. They end up working late into the night, drawing up some initial plans and schematics, and Johnny becomes impressed by Spider-Man’s scientific aptitude. However, the web-spinner seems uncharacteristically glum, and Johnny wonders what his problem is. Eventually, one of Reed’s police scanners goes off, reporting a break-in at a nearby nuclear laboratory by a man with a super-leaping ability. Claiming that it’s a personal grudge match, Spider-Man leaves to capture the crook, declining Johnny’s offer of help. Though he doesn’t return that night, Spidey does show up on a semi-regular basis through the summer to continue working on the Spider-Mobile. Johnny has fun with it, treating the entire scheme as an elaborate joke.
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<b>June 1966 –</b> Ben infuriates Reed when he intentionally wrecks the machine meant to change him back to his human form, saying he couldn’t stand the thought of yet another failed cure. A few minutes later, the Thing suddenly finds himself teleported to a ghost town in New Mexico by the Leader, who declares that he’s been chosen to fight as the champion of Kurrgo, the former dictator of the planet Xanth. The Leader, naturally enough, has chosen the Hulk to fight for him. Ben refuses, but the Leader claims to have planted a time bomb on the other side of town capable of destroying all life on earth. Thus, when the Hulk suddenly materializes, the Thing tries to overpower him. They fight for about twenty minutes, as the Hulk refuses to listen to reason. Finally, the Thing manages to punch the Hulk in the back of the head, sending him crashing into a building that then collapses. Surprised by the force of his blow, Ben quickly locates the time bomb and smashes it, only to discover that it’s a fake. Kurrgo’s spaceship then descends from the sky and seizes the Hulk in its tractor beam. The Thing grabs onto his rival’s ankle and is lifted into the ship as well, where he finds Kurrgo waiting for them. Ben accuses Kurrgo of cheating, having realized that his strength was being artificially enhanced during the fight. Thus, the Leader claims victory by forfeit, but Kurrgo refuses to concede defeat. He sends his robot bodyguard to subdue the Thing and the Hulk, but they knock it into an instrument panel, starting a fire. Ben dives out of the cargo hatch and the Hulk follows him, just before the ship explodes and crashes to the ground, killing Kurrgo. Having lost interest in the fight, the Hulk leaps away and disappears into the distance, leaving the Thing to begin a lonely trek across the desert.
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After several hours, the Thing sees Iron Man streaking by above him and tries to wave him down. Annoyed that his call for help is ignored, the Thing follows Iron Man, intent on giving him a piece of his mind. He soon arrives at a high-tech installation hidden inside a mesa, where he finds Iron Man fighting two savage aliens called the Blood Brothers, who turn out to be a pair of space-vampires in the employ of Thanos. After a vicious brawl, the Thing and Iron Man are able to defeat the Blood Brothers. The unconscious aliens are then either teleported away or disintegrated by their angry boss, but Ben has little sympathy for them. He suggests that Iron Man could give him a ride back to civilization, but the Golden Avenger insists that his power levels are too low to carry him any distance. As Iron Man flies off, the frustrated Thing stomps off into the gathering darkness. By morning, the Thing finally reaches a dusty crossroads and buys a bus ticket to New York City. However, he changes his plans when he sees a report in <i>Time</i> magazine about a Florida swamp monster called the “Man-Thing.” Angry that his brand is being diluted, the Thing intimidates the hapless shopkeeper into changing his ticket so he can go to Miami instead.
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Thirty-six hours later, the Thing arrives in the Florida Everglades, where he is ambushed by a man claiming to be the son of the Molecule Man. Their fight draws the attention of the Man-Thing, who turns out to be considerably stranger than Ben expected. Suddenly, the Molecule Man fires an energy beam from his wand that changes the Thing and the Man-Thing back to their human forms. The villain teleports away, leaving Ben Grimm to explain to a very confused Ted Sallis what’s going on. Worried that the Molecule Man will seek revenge on the rest of the Fantastic Four, Ben convinces Sallis to help him. Sallis agrees to lead Ben to his laboratory elsewhere in the swamp, thinking he’ll be able to devise some scientific means of defeating the Molecule Man. However, they end up hiking aimlessly around the swamp until dawn, when they find themselves on the outskirts of Citrusville, Florida. Ben is fed up with Sallis, who talked non-stop all night long, and they argue. However, the Molecule Man appears and kills an innocent bystander by changing him into a doppelgänger of Mister Fantastic and stretching him to death. To taunt his foes, the villain then changes them back into their monstrous forms, but the Thing is too angry to care. When the Man-Thing mindlessly attacks him, the Thing rips out a handful of the creature’s sludge and throws it at the Molecule Man’s smirking face. He misses, but the muck knocks the Molecule Man’s wand out of his hand. Immediately, the Molecule Man collapses and ages into a withered husk that rapidly turns to dust. The Thing is shocked but feels no compassion for the heartless villain. When the wand proves to be useless, the Thing tosses it to a little boy to play with. The Man-Thing then shambles back into the swamp, leaving Ben with a new appreciation of Ted Sallis’s tragic fate.
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Returning to New York City, Ben takes Alicia out on the town to celebrate his 41st birthday. He decides not to tell her that he gave up the chance to be a normal man again in order to stop the Molecule Man’s rampage. Alicia is happy that her career as a sculptor has been going very well, but she worries about the effect Reed and Sue’s separation is having on the team.
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<b>July–August 1966 –</b> Sue celebrates her 27th birthday with a picnic on the Pennsylvania horse farm with Bob and Carol Landers and their friends. She’s still concerned by Franklin’s occasional bouts of odd behavior, which often manifest as moments of intense focus on seemingly random details of the world around him. But for the most part, he seems like just an ordinary toddler. She is grateful to have had time over the last few months to also focus on personal growth and to cultivate a new feminist consciousness. A few weeks later, Sue has a little party for Franklin’s second birthday, which Johnny flies out to attend. Ben and Alicia come too, though Ben feels awkward being there when Reed has not been invited. Medusa decides to stay with Reed in the Baxter Building, not particularly interested in the rituals of human child-rearing. Reed has grown increasingly reclusive as the summer has worn on, and when his own 44th birthday rolls around, he doesn’t bother to celebrate it.
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<b>September 1966 –</b> Johnny pulls an all-nighter with Spider-Man to work on the Spider-Mobile. They have a good time, though Spidey is clearly still down in the dumps and refuses to talk about it. Although Spider-Man originally envisioned creating a sleek sportscar, Johnny has decided to turn the Spider-Mobile into a dune buggy instead. Shortly afterward, Johnny, Ben, and Medusa fly out to Oklahoma again to visit Wyatt. While they are there, Ben is saddened to learn of the tragic death of his old friend Desmond Pitt, a fellow Air Force test pilot who once saved his life after a crash. Wanting to learn more, Ben phones some contacts in the military, who tell him the case has been designated top secret—apparently Pitt had been selling military secrets to a foreign government to pay his wife’s medical bills, and when she died, he became careless and was killed by spies. Shocked that his old friend could turn traitor, Ben can’t quite bring himself to believe that it’s all true.
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Meanwhile, at the Landers’ horse farm in Pennsylvania, Sue is frightened when Franklin suddenly goes glassy-eyed and emits a high-pitched scream before passing out. At first, she refuses to call a doctor, trying to assure herself that the boy is fine now. However, Sue worries all night and decides in the morning that she had better contact Reed. At the Baxter Building, Reed is frustrated that he made a careless mistake and wrecked the prototype for the device meant to neutralize Franklin’s mutant powers. Ben, Johnny, and Medusa return from Oklahoma, bringing Wyatt with them, and they all get into an argument about Reed’s attitude lately. They are interrupted by Sue’s call, which is abruptly terminated, sending Reed into a panic. When Ben and Johnny are unable to restrain Reed, Medusa merely picks up a wrench with her hair and wallops Reed in the side of the head, knocking him out. Ben and Johnny are both annoyed by Medusa’s notable lack of empathy. Thinking Reed may have hung up on her, Sue decides to drive Franklin back to the Baxter Building, but her car is hijacked along the way by Agatha Harkness. Agatha admits that she inadvertently caused Franklin’s strange fit yesterday while trying to contact them through mystical means, then lures Sue and Franklin from their car and teleports them away.
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In New York, Reed, Ben, Johnny, Medusa, and Wyatt have resumed their argument, but they are interrupted when Triton brings the injured Sub-Mariner to them for help. Reed determines that Namor has been exposed to an experimental nerve gas that has caused a cellular transmutation in his body, leaving him unable to survive outside of a marine environment. Thus, Reed designs a special suit for Namor to wear, a refined version of the one Triton uses. When Namor regains consciousness, he is grateful for the Fantastic Four’s help, though he still views the surface world as a threat to his kingdom. Leaving Wyatt behind, the Fantastic Four then fly out to the Landers’ horse farm to check on Sue and Franklin. Carol is worried, as Sue left several hours ago and should have reached Manhattan by now. Reed soon locates Sue’s abandoned car and determines that the ground is saturated with the peculiar sort of antimatter particles found only in the Negative Zone. Worried, they race back to the Baxter Building, only to be ambushed by Annihilus.
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The defeated Fantastic Four come to in their foe’s citadel in the Negative Zone, where they find Sue, Franklin, Wyatt, and Agatha Harkness are also being held prisoner. Annihilus gloats about his triumph, revealing that he’s been plotting for two years to get revenge on the Fantastic Four for stealing the energies from his cosmic control rod that formerly made him immortal. He expended a great deal of time and resources, he explains, to construct a gateway between the Negative Zone and Whisper Hill in order to kidnap Agatha, though in the process her house was completely destroyed. After holding the witch prisoner for months, Annihilus was finally able to compel Agatha to kidnap Sue and Franklin and bring them to the Negative Zone, where he plans to absorb the boy’s cosmic energies back into himself. While Annihilus is setting up his machines to do that, Reed, Ben, Johnny, Medusa, and Wyatt escape from the villain’s dungeon and regroup outside the citadel. There, Reed finally confides in the others that he’s been worried about the effects the cosmic control rod’s energies may have had on Franklin when he was born and has been working on the problem for many months. However, when they storm into their foe’s laboratory to rescue the others, Reed sees that they are too late—Annihilus has already triggered a chain reaction within Franklin’s cells. He immediately deduces that if the process isn’t stopped, Franklin will explode, releasing a blast of psychic force that will kill every living creature in the solar system. Medusa, Johnny, and Ben manage to overpower Annihilus and knock him out, enabling them to free Sue and Agatha. They are concerned by the eerie light shining from Franklin’s eyes, but Reed has Agatha teleport them all back to the Baxter Building as quickly as possible. Without stopping to explain, Reed grabs his defective prototype, which looks to the others like a large gun, and fires an energy beam at Franklin. Sue screams as the weird light in her son’s eyes dies out and he lapses into a coma. Distressed, Reed is at a loss for words as Sue lashes out at him. Ben, Johnny, and Wyatt, also shocked and horrified, then follow Sue out of the building. Only Medusa remains by Reed’s side, believing his actions were justified.
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As Reed and Medusa necessarily set to work repairing the Negative Zone portal, the distraught Sue drives Franklin back to the Landers’ horse farm in Pennsylvania, where Bob and Carol are stunned by Reed’s apparent callousness. Ben checks into a Manhattan hotel and sinks into a depression, believing the Fantastic Four will never be able to be a team again. Johnny and Wyatt, who has borrowed the Jet-Cycle, fly out to the campus of Metro College to seek advice from Sam Thorne, expecting him to condemn Reed’s actions. However, Johnny becomes annoyed when Coach Thorne sees Reed’s side of the issue and is sympathetic to the terrible choice he was forced to make. Later, Johnny and Wyatt retreat to the Catskill Mountains for a camping trip, where they celebrate Johnny’s 22nd birthday. Wyatt tries to get Johnny to let go of the idea that Reed betrayed them all, arguing that he was put in an impossible situation. Even so, Johnny remains resolutely on Sue’s side.
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<b>October 1966 –</b> One night, Reed finds Spider-Man caught by one of the Baxter Building’s security devices. Assuming the wall-crawler has come to work on the Spider-Mobile, Reed informs him that the Human Torch is out of town—in fact, the Fantastic Four have disbanded. Spider-Man is incredulous, but Reed refuses to discuss the matter. However, Spider-Man reveals that he’s actually come for help tracking down Captain Marvel, who disappeared while they were fighting a super-villain called the Basilisk over two Kree power crystals. Depressed, Reed is at first disinclined to help, but Spider-Man shames him into changing his mind. Modifying a device meant to track Kree Sentry robots, Reed detects the power crystals in Subterranea. He then flies Spider-Man in the Fantasti-Car to the wreckage of the strange house in the country where the Mole Man’s drop tube is located. No sooner have they arrived in the underground realm than they are overwhelmed by a horde of Subterraneans and dragged into the Mole Man’s throne room. The Mole Man rants about his plan to use a gigantic laser-cannon, powered by the Kree crystal in which Captain Marvel is trapped, to destroy the surface world. He orders the Subterraneans to throw Mister Fantastic and Spider-Man into a nearby open pit of magma, but the two heroes save themselves. Suddenly, the Basilisk appears and gets into a fight with the Mole Man and his Subterraneans. During the fracas, Captain Marvel escapes from the giant crystal by transforming into his human alter-ego Rick Jones, the energy released by their interdimensional transposition disrupting the crystal’s molecular matrix. Reed uses the distraction to alter the laser-cannon’s controls, causing it to self-destruct. The resulting explosion triggers a violent eruption in the magma pit, and both villains are lost in the ensuing conflagration, along with the Kree power crystals. Mister Fantastic, Spider-Man, and Rick Jones race to the Fantasti-Car as the tunnels collapse behind them. Once they have reached the surface, Jones changes back into Captain Marvel and flies away. Mister Fantastic then gives Spider-Man a lift back to Manhattan.
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In the Catskill Mountains, Johnny and Wyatt discover Blastaar trying to destroy a computerized factory called F.A.U.S.T.—the Fully Automated Unit of Structural Technology, designed by an old friend of Reed’s named Paxton Pentecost and built out of secondary adamantium, a weaker alloy of the indestructible metal. Blastaar shrugs off the Human Torch’s fiery attacks and sends him hurtling away with a powerful concussive blast. As luck would have it, the Hulk is in the area and catches Johnny before he hits the ground. Seeing that the Hulk is agitated by a painful buzzing in his ears, Johnny convinces him that Blastaar is to blame. Thus, the Hulk follows Johnny back to the factory, where he fights with Blastaar. The Torch flies into the factory to make sure it has been evacuated, only to find Pentecost and some henchmen holding his former business partner, financier Ferguson Blaine, at gunpoint. Johnny convinces Pentecost to abandon his revenge scheme and hurries them out of the building. Remorseful at having unleashed the unstoppable Blastaar on the world, Pentecost suggests that they may be able to imprison the villain in the metal wreckage. Johnny tells the Hulk to do just that, so the green behemoth wraps Blastaar in a large ball of adamantium scrap and hurls him into the Atlantic Ocean some 600 miles away. After the Hulk has left, Pentecost is taken into police custody, but Johnny berates the greedy Blaine for driving the scientist to desperation in the first place.
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Ben receives word that Alicia has traveled to Transylvania for an experimental new surgical procedure that may restore her sight, so he flies out immediately to join her. When Ben arrives, Alicia introduces him to the surgeon, Dr. Hans Stuttgart, but they are distracted when people on the street seem to flee from the sight of the Thing. Alicia assures Ben that they’re actually superstitious about a legendary demon said to stalk the countryside at night. Even so, after dropping Alicia off at the hospital and starting back toward his hotel, Ben worries that she’ll find him repulsive once her eyesight has been restored. Suddenly, he is ambushed by Darkoth, the Death-Demon, who purports to be a devil from the pits of Hell. Ben is unimpressed, though Darkoth does prove to have superhuman strength as well as other powers. The fight ends abruptly when gas lines under the street are ruptured and sparks from Darkoth’s metal claws cause an explosion. The Thing is stunned, and when the smoke clears, he finds that Darkoth has fled. Ben wonders how Darkoth knew personal details about him and suspects he may be working for Dr. Stuttgart, since few other people even know the Thing is in the country.
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Back at the Baxter Building, Medusa decides she must attempt to cheer Reed up, noting that he is nearly overwhelmed with grief at being separated from his wife and son. Believing a change of scene will do him good, Medusa convinces Reed to take her out to dinner at a nice restaurant. Though he feels it is an exercise in futility, Reed relents and agrees to go. Medusa realizes that, to avoid drawing undue attention to herself, she must finally remove her mask and adopt the fashions of New York City, thus she slips into a tight yellow minidress and high-heeled shoes. She has determined that her sex appeal is likely to take Reed’s mind off his troubles. As they are getting ready to leave, Medusa finds an invitation to a class reunion dinner that Reed has recently received. He had decided not to go, he says, but Medusa insists that he will attend, even if she has to drag him there. Throughout dinner, Medusa tries to charm Reed, but he is unresponsive.
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The next day, Ben arrives at the hospital, only to be informed by Dr. Stuttgart that Alicia has already been sedated and is being prepped for surgery. He spends the next few hours in the waiting room feeling dejected. Eventually, Ben grows suspicious and bursts into the operating room to find it is completely empty. He is attacked from behind by Darkoth and realizes the whole thing has been a set-up. Darkoth forces the Thing through a hidden passageway into a series of caverns, where he finally rakes his foe’s rocky hide with poisoned claws. The drug hits the Thing’s system a minute later, and he drops to the ground, unconscious. When he comes to later, Ben finds himself trapped in a power-dampening force field inside a large laboratory complex. Strangely, Darkoth is also imprisoned in a similar device nearby. Numerous scientists and technicians bustle around the lab, but they completely ignore their monstrous captives. Worried about Alicia, Ben struggles to escape, but to no avail.
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Two days later, Reed and Medusa get dressed up again and go to the alumni dinner at a high-rise building in Manhattan, where they find Coach Sam Thorne and his wife Belle. Reed and Sam are happy to see each other, noting that it’s been about ten years since their last encounter. Sam mentions running into Johnny not long ago, but before they can continue their conversation, they are all escorted into the dining room. Reed and Sam are shocked to see their old classmate—Doctor Doom—standing at the head of the table. Intent on protecting the Thornes, Reed and Medusa immediately attack Doom, but he calmly activates a trap door that sends them tumbling into a chamber below. Doom then leads his captives into the large laboratory where the Thing and Darkoth are imprisoned, boasting of the ease with which he has defeated the Fantastic Four. He also reveals his plan to use an orbiting satellite to brainwash everyone on earth, demonstrating its effectiveness by making two minions who have betrayed him shoot each other in the head. Then, leaving to prepare the satellite for launch, Doom orders that Reed, Ben, and Medusa be locked in power-dampening cells on a lower level, where they can witness his ultimate triumph. However, Darkoth enters the cell block a little while later, dismisses the guards, and deactivates the force fields. He explains that he has learned that he is not, in fact, a demonic creature of legend but one of Doom’s lackeys transformed into a monster three weeks ago. Wishing revenge on Doctor Doom, Darkoth leads Reed, Ben, and Medusa down into New York City’s sewer system, where they make their way back towards the Baxter Building.
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Meanwhile, Doctor Doom captures Johnny and Wyatt outside Buffalo, New York, and brings them back to his high-rise headquarters in Manhattan. Trapped in a transparent cylinder, Johnny is worried for Doom’s other prisoners, Alicia and Sam and Belle Thorne, but is relieved to learn that Reed, Ben, and Medusa have already escaped. Enraged, Doom sends a synthetic creature called the Seeker into the sewer system to pursue them. With Darkoth’s help, Reed, Ben, and Medusa defeat the Seeker and take it to Reed’s lab in the Baxter Building. While Reed attempts to reprogram the Seeker, though, Doctor Doom launches his satellite into orbit and activates it. Having run out of time, Reed disassembles the Seeker, turning it into a makeshift disguise for Darkoth to wear so he can infiltrate Doom’s stronghold. This enables Darkoth to break in and free Johnny and Wyatt before attacking Doom. When the Thing smashes through the wall, Doctor Doom chooses a strategic retreat, but Darkoth follows him. Suddenly, the building starts to crumble, forcing Ben and Johnny to focus on getting Alicia, Wyatt, and the Thornes to safety. On a rooftop across the street, they all watch as Doom’s spaceplane, camouflaged as the building’s tower, blasts off, causing the rest of the structure to collapse. At the Baxter Building, Reed and Medusa monitor the spaceplane’s ascent and are surprised when it explodes on the edge of space, destroying the mind-altering satellite as well. When no trace of Darkoth is found in the rubble, Reed theorizes that he must have stowed away aboard the spaceplane and caused it to blow up, thereby saving everyone on earth from becoming Doctor Doom’s slaves. Reed suspects Doom may have escaped, though there’s no sign of him either. Soon after, Wyatt goes home to Oklahoma.
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<b>November 1966 –</b> Feeling conflicted about the phony blindness cure—he is actually relieved though Alicia is disappointed—Ben sinks into a funk. Johnny tries to cheer him up by taking him to an action movie, but Ben doesn’t enjoy it and seeing all the winos and prostitutes in Times Square just makes him feel more depressed. After Johnny has left, Ben gets into a fight with a super-strong young man who drops out of the sky and demolishes a parked car. During their destructive battle in the streets, Ben begins to suspect that his unspeaking opponent may be mentally disabled. Suddenly, the Sub-Mariner and his cousin Namorita arrive on the scene to break up the fight. Before the two Atlanteans can explain themselves, a large spacecraft descends and disgorges a pair of gun-toting aliens and their giant killer robot. They identify the young man as Wundarr, a potential political agitator they have come to eliminate. Working together, the Thing and the Sub-Mariner destroy the robot and drive the aliens away. However, claiming that Atlantis is in imminent danger, Namor and Namorita leave Wundarr with the Thing, explaining only that he has the mind of an infant in an adult body. Frustrated, Ben takes Wundarr back to the Baxter Building, where Reed confirms that he is indeed from another planet. Alicia agrees to help Ben take care of his helpless charge. Johnny finds the whole situation to be very amusing, though Medusa wants nothing to do with any of it.
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<b>December 1966 –</b> A few days before Christmas, Spider-Man wakes Johnny up early in the morning, eager to pick up the completed Spider-Mobile. They load the dune buggy into a freight elevator and take it down to the alley behind the Baxter Building, where Johnny points out all the specialty controls on the instrument panel, including activators for the car’s spider-signal and web-shooters. However, when Spidey takes it out for a test drive and almost slides into oncoming traffic before swerving up onto the sidewalk, Johnny realizes the web-slinger has no idea how to operate a motor vehicle. Spider-Man sheepishly admits he never took driver’s ed, so Johnny spends the next few hours giving him basic driving lessons. Both of them get stressed out and tempers run high, but eventually Spidey gets the hang of it and Johnny sends him on his way.
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The Fantastic Four celebrate an awkward Christmas morning, mainly for Medusa’s edification. Ben and Alicia give several wrapped gifts to the uncomprehending Wundarr as the others look on. Johnny and Medusa soon decide to go out to lunch, but Reed drifts off into his laboratories again to spend the day tinkering aimlessly with various projects. Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, Sue cares for the comatose Franklin, feeling utterly isolated and alone and filled with rage over what Reed has done to their son. As far as she is concerned, their marriage is over.
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<b>Notes:</b>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>January 1966 –</b> The Fantastic Four’s adventures resume in <i>Fantastic Four</i> #133 and following. Luke Cage pays a visit to the Baxter Building in <i>Luke Cage, Hero for Hire</i> #9.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>February 1966 –</b> The Human Torch lends a hand to Spider-Man in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #10. The Pogo Plane does not actually appear in the issue, but it’s the only way to make the logistics of the globe-spanning story make sense. Ironically, Quicksilver is being held prisoner by Kang along with the rest of the Avengers and is not even in the Great Refuge, a fact of which Johnny is unaware.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>May 1966 –</b> The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man team up against the demon hordes of Dormammu in <i>Avengers</i> #118. Doctor Strange undoes all the damage caused during the battle by augmenting his magic with the power of the Evil Eye of Avalon. However, in order to keep the Defenders’ involvement a secret, the Avengers are necessarily vague about what actually happened. The Thing encounters Captain Marvel and the Super-Skrull in <i>Captain Marvel</i> #26, where he also meets Thanos. The Mad Titan’s mysterious associate is, of course, a manifestation of Death itself. Spider-Man asks the Human Torch to help him build the Spider-Mobile in <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i> #126. The wall-crawler is depressed about the death of Gwen Stacy, and the villain he goes off to stop is the ill-fated Kangaroo.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>June 1966 –</b> At this point, the Thing received his own team-up series, which debuted in <i>Marvel Feature</i> #11–12 before settling into <i>Marvel Two-in-One</i> for a long run. Interestingly, <i>Marvel Two-in-One</i> #1 has an early indication of “Marvel time”—Ben says it’s been five years since he last encountered the Molecule Man, even though that issue was published just over ten years before. On my OMU timeline, it occurred just under four years ago. Though the Molecule Man believes himself to be the son of the original here, that eventually turns out to not be the case. When his original body dies, the Molecule Man’s consciousness takes refuge within his wand and starts possessing a series of host bodies. Eventually he creates a new body for himself, as seen in <i>Avengers</i> #215.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>September 1966 –</b> The Human Torch and Spider-Man continue working on the Spider-Mobile in <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i> #127. The Thing discusses the apparent death of Desmond Pitt in <i>Fantastic Four</i> #193, where it is revealed that it was Pitt whom Doctor Doom transformed into Darkoth, the Death-Demon. Mister Fantastic creates Namor’s new black costume in <i>Sub-Mariner</i> #67.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>October 1966 –</b> The scenes of Alicia leaving her apartment and traveling to Eastern Europe, seen in <i>Fantastic Four</i> #135, 138, and 141, actually all occur at this point in the timeline. The comics show them out of sequence for dramatic effect. Transylvania is not identified in the comics, but it is the most likely of Latveria’s four neighbors to be the setting of the story. Mister Fantastic and Spider-Man team up against the Mole Man and the Basilisk in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #17, with the Human Torch and the Hulk battling Blastaar in the following issue. The collapse of Doctor Doom’s latest scheme to rule the world brings us up to <i>Fantastic Four</i> #144.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>November 1966 –</b> The Thing, the Sub-Mariner, and Namorita rescue Wundarr from some interplanetary assassins in <i>Marvel Two-in-One</i> #2. The movie Ben and Johnny see at the beginning of the story is probably <i>The Professionals</i> with Burt Lancaster and Lee Marvin rather than a kung fu flick.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>December 1966 –</b> The Human Torch teaches Spider-Man how to drive in <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i> #130.</span>
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<i><b>Jump To:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2023/03/omu-fantastic-four-year-seven.html">The Fantastic Four – Year Seven</a></i>
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<i><b>Jump Back:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2015/12/omu-fantastic-four-year-five.html">The Fantastic Four – Year Five</a></i>
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<i><b>Next Issue:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2018/06/omu-hulk-year-five.html">The Hulk – Year Five</a></i>
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<br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2672024008187300905.post-58531716438211820472018-02-28T10:13:00.010-06:002023-12-07T15:42:32.609-06:00OMU: Spider-Man -- Year FiveThe life of <b>Spider-Man</b> takes a dark turn in the fifth year of his superhero career when his girlfriend Gwen Stacy is murdered by the Green Goblin. To make matters worse, the story makes it clear that Spider-Man could have saved her. Shoved off one of the towers of the Brooklyn Bridge, Gwen was falling toward the East River. Spider-Man shot out a web-line and snagged her legs, but the sudden stop snapped her neck. Like so many deaths, the tragedy is in the details—make any number of minor changes to the sequence of events and Gwen lives. Instead, Peter Parker’s life completely unravels, sending him into a tailspin of nihilism. Gwen’s death also sets off a cascade of repercussions that will plague Spider-Man for years to come.
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<b>Note:</b> The following timeline depicts the <b>Original Marvel Universe</b> (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2004/12/the-original-marvel-universe.html">previous posts</a> for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.
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Continuing on with... <b>The True History of the Amazing Spider-Man!</b>
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<b>January 1966 –</b> On the first day of the year, Spider-Man hears about an upcoming grudge match between the Thing and a mystery woman called Thundra. Having heard that Thundra kidnapped the Thing’s girlfriend, Alicia Masters, last night as the Fantastic Four watched helplessly, Spidey wonders if the Thing will be able to win the fight. Three days later, the fight ends inconclusively when the Thing unexpectedly reverts to his human form. Alicia is released unharmed shortly afterwards, and the public considers the much-hyped “battle of the sexes” to be rather anticlimactic.
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A couple weeks later, Peter Parker starts the second semester of his junior year at Empire State University, along with his girlfriend, Gwen Stacy. They sign up for another course with Professor Miles Warren. Peter is concerned about his roommate, Harry Osborn, who is still a semester behind and continues to miss classes due to his drug problem. Things are looking up for Flash Thompson, though, who returns to campus to finally finish his freshman year. Peter also takes a philosophy course and is surprised to find Mary Jane Watson in the same class. Peter continues to worry about his Aunt May, who is working as a housekeeper in the Westchester County mansion owned by Doctor Octopus. Though the villain is currently in prison, Peter knows that members of his gang still use the mansion as a meeting place. Stubborn as ever, Aunt May seems oblivious to the fact that the men are hardened criminals. Busy with school and spending most of his free time with Gwen, Peter seldom goes out to patrol the rooftops as Spider-Man. He continues to think it may be about time to retire his costumed identity once and for all.
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<b>February 1966 –</b> On a Sunday morning near the middle of the month, Peter sees a TV news report of trouble at Avengers Mansion and decides to lend a hand when Harry proves to be in a belligerent mood. When he arrives at the scene, Spider-Man finds Iron Man trying to blast his way through a force field that has enveloped the mansion. Iron Man initially rebuffs Spidey’s offer of help, but when a hole seems to open in the field, the two heroes leap through it. However, they suddenly find themselves falling through a strange dimension, where they are picked up by a spaceship. The pilot introduces himself as Zarrko and recruits the two heroes to help him save the 23rd century from an invasion by an army from even further in the future. When the ship materializes in Zarrko’s time period, Spidey is surprised to find the Empire State Building is still standing. Zarrko drops them off at a fortified citadel a few blocks away, and Spider-Man and Iron Man fight their way inside, only to discover Thor, Captain America, Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, the Black Panther, and the Vision, as well as the Avengers’ butler, Edwin Jarvis, being held prisoner by Kang the Conqueror. Kang immobilizes Spider-Man and Iron Man with a paralysis ray just as Zarrko enters the chamber. Rather than help the heroes, though, Zarrko brags to Kang about his plan to conquer the 20th century for himself and replace Kang as the master of time. Learning that Zarrko has sent back in time three chronal-displacement bombs to strike in Greece, Japan, and Venezuela in order to destroy civilization, Spidey manages to creep out of the chamber, find Kang’s time machine, and transport himself back to the day he left.
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Materializing on the glowing platform of the Fantastic Four’s time machine inside their Baxter Building headquarters, Spider-Man recruits the Human Torch to help him find Zarrko’s chronal-displacement bombs. As the Torch streaks off to Japan in the team’s Pogo Plane, Spidey heads to John F. Kennedy International Airport and stows away aboard a jet bound for Venezuela. About nine hours later, the plane lands at Simón Bolívar International Airport outside Caracas, just minutes before the bomb goes off. Spidey is caught in the waves of strange energy emanating from the device and starts to black out, but the Human Torch arrives and melts it to slag. The Torch reports that he was able to destroy the bomb in Japan as well. The two heroes then fly to Greece together in the Pogo Plane, where they again get caught in chronal-displacement waves. Spidey stops the Torch from melting the third device and merely switches it off instead, so they have something to examine for clues. The Human Torch remarks that the chronal-displacement waves remind him of a certain force field he encountered in the Great Refuge of the Inhumans a couple of years ago, but he’s unwilling to accompany Spider-Man there since it’s where his ex-girlfriend lives and he doesn’t want to see her. After giving Spider-Man detailed instructions on how to find the Inhumans, the Torch returns to New York. Spidey is annoyed that the Human Torch has abandoned him in Greece in the middle of a critical rescue mission.
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Nevertheless, Spider-Man is able to arrange transport to a mountain pass in the Himalayas near the Great Refuge, from which he makes his way into the fantastic city of the Inhumans. He is captured by sentries and brought to the throne room of the king, Black Bolt, where the royal advisors Gorgon, Karnak, and Triton interrogate him. Fortunately, after hearing Spider-Man’s story, the Inhumans agree to help. To Spidey’s dismay, it is left to Black Bolt’s brother, Maximus the Mad, to devise a means of turning the chronal-displacement bomb into a time machine to return them to Zarrko’s era. Though he is clearly insane, Maximus is successful, and Spider-Man, Black Bolt, Gorgon, Karnak, and Triton soon find themselves transported to Kang’s citadel in 23rd-century Manhattan. After fighting their way inside, the five adventurers confront Kang and Zarrko. Black Bolt makes short work of the villains by uttering a single word—the destructive power of his voice wrecks the building, knocks out Kang, and frees the Avengers from their stasis cells. Zarrko flees, but Spider-Man chases him down and gives him a beating. Returning to the others, Spidey discovers that Kang is just an empty suit of robotic armor. The voice of the real Kang then mocks them over the loudspeaker. Zarrko is turned over to the local authorities, then the thirteen time-travelers return to their own era. Outside Avengers Mansion, Thor expresses the team’s gratitude to the Inhumans—and to Spider-Man—for rescuing them. Departing with a wise-ass remark, Spidey heads for home. He soon discovers that he has been gone for two days and completely missed Valentine’s Day. He reassures himself that he can make it up to Gwen next year.
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A week later, Aunt May’s friend, Anna Watson, gives Peter a telegram sent to the Parker house in Forest Hills, Queens, so Peter decides to take it to Aunt May in Westchester. He is suspicious as to why Doctor Octopus has shown so much interest in a sweet old lady who has nothing a criminal mastermind could possibly want, so when he overhears one of the villain’s henchmen talking on the phone about waiting to receive an important telegram, Peter decides to leave it in his pocket until he’s had a chance to see what it’s all about. After visiting with Aunt May for about an hour, Peter heads back to Manhattan. As soon as he’s back in his apartment, Peter opens the telegram and discovers it is from Jean-Pierre Rimbaud, an attorney in Montreal, Quebec. Mysteriously, Rimbaud requests that Aunt May come to Canada to discuss a sensitive matter. Intrigued, Peter heads down to the street, where he runs into Harry and his father. When Harry collapses suddenly, Norman Osborn goes into a fit of rage, making Peter worry that the Green Goblin persona may be resurfacing. Thinking it would be a good idea to leave town for a few days, Peter hurries off to the Daily Bugle Building, where he convinces J. Jonah Jameson to finance his trip to Montreal by promising him photos of the Hulk, who’s been terrorizing Canada lately.
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A couple hours later, Peter arrives in Montreal and goes directly to Rimbaud’s law firm, only to find the attorney is unavailable. Claiming his aunt is too sick to travel, Peter convinces Rimbaud’s secretary to discuss the matter with him over dinner. He then heads to his hotel, where he finds Air Force General Thaddeus E. “Thunderbolt” Ross giving a press conference regarding the Hulk’s rampage. Acting as an advisor to the Canadian military on the situation, Ross then leads a contingent of soldiers to intercept the Hulk at a power station on the Saint Lawrence River about ten miles north of the city. Peter joins the press corps going with them, and about an hour later, the Hulk attacks the convoy in a wooded area. The Hulk flips over the truck carrying the reporters, but Peter, alerted by his spider-sense, manages to tumble into a ravine, where he quickly changes into Spider-Man to draw the Hulk away. Their fight leads them to the Maskattawan Dam a few miles away, which the Hulk nearly destroys before leaping off into the darkness. Spider-Man then hitches a ride on the helicopter taking General Ross back to Montreal. Once in the city, Peter heads over to meet Rimbaud’s secretary, only to discover that one of Doc Ock’s men is tailing him. Slipping into a dark alley, Peter changes back into Spider-Man and roughs up the crook, now convinced that the telegram has something to do with Doc Ock’s designs on Aunt May. However, General Ross and his troops show up and try to capture Spider-Man, believing him to be in league with the Hulk. Annoyed, Spidey swings off to meet Rimbaud’s secretary for their dinner date. However, it turns out that she has been unable to find any documentation pertaining to the case, so she offers to take Peter to meet Rimbaud at the construction site for the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, where he’s meeting with a client. As luck would have it, their taxi runs into the Hulk upon arrival. Both the taxi driver and the secretary are knocked out when the Hulk flips the car, giving Peter the chance to become Spider-Man again. This time their battle causes tremendous damage to the fairgrounds, and the Hulk is about to crush Spidey when military helicopters arrive and drive the jade giant off. Quickly changing out of his costume, Peter finally meets Jean-Pierre Rimbaud, but before he can reveal Aunt May’s secret, the attorney is shot and killed by a sniper. The killer, whom Peter assumes is working for Doctor Octopus, escapes from the soldiers who pursue him. A little while later, the secretary drops Peter off at the airport, where he catches the red-eye flight back to New York. Though the telegram remains a mystery, Peter at least has some photos of the Hulk to sell.
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In the morning, Peter goes to Norman Osborn’s townhouse, where he finds Harry being treated at home for a complete psychotic break. Gwen and Mary Jane are also there, talking to the Osborns’ family doctor, and Peter is shocked to learn that Norman has insisted that Harry not be taken to the hospital because he wants to keep his son’s abuse of LSD a secret. Norman then storms in and rages at Peter, blaming him for Harry’s condition. He tells Peter, Gwen, and Mary Jane to get out of his house, so they leave immediately. Gwen is very upset and even Mary Jane seems uncharacteristically subdued, so they head to ESU for their morning classes. A few hours later, Peter goes to the Daily Bugle Building to sell his photos but realizes he must have caught the flu while in Montreal. Jameson yells at him for bringing germs into the office, but city editor Joe “Robbie” Robertson agrees to buy the photos of the Hulk. Then, in a nearby alley, Peter changes into Spider-Man and web-swings back to his apartment. When he arrives, Peter is horrified to find the place has been ransacked and one of the Green Goblin’s pumpkin bombs has been left sitting atop Gwen’s purse. Realizing the Green Goblin has kidnapped Gwen, Spider-Man makes a quick search of the city, despite his nausea and dizziness. He soon finds them on top of the Brooklyn Bridge, where the Green Goblin immediately starts taunting him, calling him “Mr. Parker.” Enraged, Spider-Man attacks, trying to drive the villain off so he can get the unconscious Gwen to safety. However, the Green Goblin swoops around on his Goblin Glider and knocks Gwen off the bridge, sending her plummeting toward the water below. Spider-Man manages to snag Gwen’s legs with his webbing, but when he pulls her back up, she is dead.
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Overwhelmed with rage and grief, Spider-Man swings over to a nearby dock, where he gently lays Gwen’s body down before attacking the Green Goblin with uncharacteristic savagery. After the villain breaks away from him and flees the scene, Spider-Man returns to the dock, finding a crowd has gathered around Gwen’s body. As a police car arrives, Spider-Man drives the crowd back, then cradles Gwen in his arms, grieving over her until the ambulance arrives to take her away. The police try to take Spider-Man in for questioning, but he loses his temper and swings off to hunt down the Green Goblin. Changing out of his costume, Peter goes into the Osborns’ townhouse to see if he can find any clue as to where his foe might be hiding. Instead, he finds Harry in the middle of another psychotic episode. Harry begs Peter not to leave him alone, but consumed with vengeance, Peter storms out. Minutes later, Spider-Man arrives at the <i>Daily Bugle</i> to pump Joe Robertson for information on Osborn. Robertson has already seen the police report on Gwen’s death and informs Spider-Man that the authorities are already blaming him for it. Spider-Man refuses to discuss it, and after making a few phone calls, Robertson reports that Osborn was just seen outside one of his warehouses in Chelsea. Spider-Man heads there immediately, breaks in, and attacks the Green Goblin. To prevent his foe from escaping, Spider-Man damages his glider, then beats the Green Goblin to within an inch of his life, lost in a paroxysm of rage. Suddenly realizing that he’s completely lost control of himself, Spider-Man staggers back in horror, giving the Green Goblin a chance to activate his glider’s remote-control mechanism. Thanks to his spider-sense, Spider-Man dodges the glider before it can stab him in the back, but it impales the Goblin, pinning him to a brick wall. The Green Goblin dies almost instantly and crumples to the floor as the glider loses power. Leaving his foe’s body on the warehouse floor, Spider-Man stumbles outside, feeling absolutely gutted. After changing into Peter Parker, he heads home and finds Mary Jane waiting for him in his apartment. She offers her sympathy, but Peter throws it in her face, calling her a shallow party girl, and tells her to get out. Mary Jane starts to go, then decides to stay and comfort the sobbing Peter whether he wants it or not.
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Three days later, Peter and Aunt May attend Gwen’s funeral along with the Watsons and various friends from college. People from the <i>Daily Bugle</i> have also come out to support Peter, though Jameson is conspicuously absent. Robertson tries to pass on Jameson’s condolences, but Peter responds with bitterness. He is annoyed that one of Doctor Octopus’s thugs has escorted Aunt May to the funeral. After everyone else has left, Mary Jane takes Peter out for coffee, where he admits that he feels totally lost without Gwen. Later, Spider-Man swings aimlessly around the city, realizing his heart has gone out of the superhero game, and he can’t even bring himself to care about who removed the Green Goblin’s costume before the body was discovered. Suddenly, he’s tackled by Luke Cage, the “hero for hire” who’s been working out of Times Square the last few months. Cage reveals that he was hired by Jameson to bring Spider-Man to justice. They fight on the rooftops for several minutes, but Spider-Man quickly loses interest after his initial rush of anger dissipates. He knocks Cage through a skylight, then swings off and heads for home. When he arrives, Peter is surprised to find Harry in the living room, but Harry just glares at him and continues reading the newspaper. Assuming Harry is angry with him for walking out on him the other day, Peter leaves and soon meets up with Mary Jane. She drags Peter to a dance party on campus, hoping to distract him from his grief. The event is disrupted when Luke Cage bursts in looking for Spider-Man, whom he knows is often seen around campus. In the mood for a brawl, Peter slips into the men’s room, puts on his costume, then confronts Cage. Leading Cage away from the dance hall, Spider-Man and the super-strong mercenary trade punches for several minutes, but Peter soon realizes how pointless it all is. He throws Cage onto some cement steps and webs his hands down, trapping him. Unable to break free, Cage agrees to listen to what Spider-Man has to say. They talk for a while and get to know each other a little, until Cage finally agrees to turn down Jameson’s offer. They go their separate ways with no hard feelings, and Peter leaves feeling a little less alone in the world.
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<b>March 1966 –</b> Peter goes to the <i>Daily Bugle</i> and asks for an assignment that will take him out of town for a few days. Though basically sympathetic to Peter’s situation, Jameson is annoyed that he doesn’t have any kind of proposal to offer. Luckily, Robertson suggests that they do a Sunday photo spread on Daredevil and the Black Widow, taking advantage of Peter’s skill in capturing superhero action. Jameson agrees, and so Peter catches an early morning flight out to San Francisco. Arriving an hour or so before dawn, Peter decides to change into Spider-Man and check out the view from the Golden Gate Bridge. While he is there, though, Spider-Man is suddenly attacked by a werewolf. After a brief struggle, the werewolf falls off the bridge into the water below and doesn’t resurface. Astonished to have encountered a real-life werewolf, Peter finds an all-night diner and orders breakfast, only to realize everyone in the restaurant appears to be in a trance. The werewolf comes crashing into the building and attacks him again. Peter takes the fight outside and swings up to the roof to change into Spider-Man. He is relieved when the werewolf stumbles into a parked car and knocks itself out. As dawn breaks, the werewolf changes into its human form, so Spider-Man carries the man up to the roof where they can talk in private. Surprised to see the wall-crawler in San Francisco, the man introduces himself as Jack and explains that he came to the city with his sister and his best friend, only to be captured by a sorcerer calling himself “Moondark.” Spider-Man agrees to help Jack rescue his sister and best friend, so they head to the theater where Moondark works as a stage magician. However, as they head into the basement, Jack turns back into a werewolf and attacks him again. They crash into a large room where Jack’s sister and friend are standing on a large pentagram, entranced by a magic spell. Moondark gloats about his impending triumph, clearly believing that Spider-Man has come to San Francisco specifically to thwart his plans. Noticing that Moondark is standing in front of the magic portal he used to send the werewolf after him, Spider-Man flips around and kicks the villain through it. Spider-Man’s momentum carries him through as well, and he is surprised to find they have been teleported back to the Golden Gate Bridge. Though Spider-Man manages to grab onto a support cable and save himself, Moondark plummets into the strait and is apparently killed on impact.
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Returning to the city, Spider-Man makes his way to the north shore mansion where the Black Widow is known to live and waits for her to appear. When the Black Widow and Daredevil finally show up, Spider-Man changes back into Peter Parker and approaches her Russian chauffeur, who’s working on their car in the garage. After claiming that he would make a much more exciting interview subject, the chauffeur directs Peter to the front door. He is met there by the Black Widow, and she invites him inside. Peter explains about his assignment, and the two heroes are happy to cooperate. As they escort him to a large library on the mansion’s third floor, Peter is impressed by the elegant décor, though Daredevil insists they’re just renting the place. Before the interview can begin, though, a man calling himself “Ramrod” comes crashing through the wall. Despite their best efforts, Daredevil and the Black Widow are unable to prevent Ramrod from tearing open a wall safe and making off with a box of important documents. Having gotten some great action photos, Peter follows the two heroes outside to make sure they are all right. Undaunted, Daredevil and the Black Widow set off in pursuit of their foe, but Peter realizes they will probably need some help to capture him. Thus, he changes into Spider-Man and swings off after them. His spider-sense leads him directly to Ramrod, who’s muttering to himself on a rooftop. Snagging the document box with his webbing, Spider-Man swings off, only to see Ramrod leaping after him like a bargain-basement Hulk. Daredevil and the Black Widow then catch up to them and join the fray. Daredevil tells Spider-Man to take the document box somewhere safe, but he is reluctant to leave the pair to face Ramrod since neither of them seems to have any super-powers. Nevertheless, he swings off into the Financial District, but the relentless Ramrod soon catches up to him. Towards the top of a skyscraper, Spider-Man webs Ramrod up and kicks him in the face. Ramrod is startled when Daredevil and the Black Widow arrive and loses his footing. The villain falls off the building but, despite a long drop, is merely knocked unconscious when he hits the ground. Returning the document box to Daredevil, Spider-Man swings off. He quickly changes back into Peter Parker and meets Daredevil and the Black Widow down on the street. As they stroll along the Embarcadero, Peter conducts a proper interview with the two superheroes, though he feels more than a little jealous of their glamorous lives. Finally, he heads to the airport and catches his flight back to New York City.
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Depressed about Gwen’s death, Spider-Man goes out looking for some criminals to beat up. This leads him to a battle between Captain America and numerous agents of Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.). Though not usually one to butt into other people’s fights, Spider-Man is determined to blow off some steam and dives into the fray. Captain America does not object, and the villains are quickly defeated. However, when Cap calls in S.H.I.E.L.D. for the mopping-up operation, Nick Fury brings both superheroes aboard the Helicarrier for a briefing. Fury reveals that A.I.M.’s mission was to steal any one of three copies of a new guided-missile telemetry system from the U.S. government, and though Spider-Man helped Captain America safeguard one copy and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents at Cape Kennedy protected another, the third was successfully stolen from an installation in the Midwest. A tracking device hidden inside the system shows that it has been brought to Queens and appears to be currently located beneath the Science Pavilion on the grounds of the World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows Park. Fury convinces Spider-Man to help Captain America recover the stolen device, so the two heroes break into A.I.M.’s underground complex, where they find the subversive organization is working with the Grey Gargoyle to launch a weapon into orbit. Badly outnumbered, both heroes are quickly knocked out and turned to stone by the Grey Gargoyle’s petrifying touch. Luckily, their altered metabolisms cause the effect to wear off much sooner than usual, and they are able to break free before being launched into space. As A.I.M.’s missile takes off, one of the chains used to bind the heroes gets tangled around the Grey Gargoyle’s ankle and he is hauled away into the sky. Without their super-powered ally, the A.I.M. agents are quickly defeated. Seeing that Captain America has the situation under control, Spider-Man says goodnight and heads for home.
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<b>April 1966 –</b> Early in the month, Peter finally returns to the ESU campus, not having attended any of his classes since Gwen’s death. Even so, his mind is not on his studies. He is confused as to why the police have not yet discovered that Norman Osborn was the Green Goblin—or why they would think Spider-Man was involved in Osborn’s death, as the <i>Daily Bugle</i> claims. He is also extremely self-conscious about facing his classmates, dreading their sympathy, and so he blows up at Mary Jane and Flash Thompson when they try to draw him out of his funk. Stressed out by the situation, Peter storms off and wanders around the rainy streets for a few hours. Eventually, he comes upon a newspaper dispenser and becomes enraged by the <i>Daily Bugle</i>’s new series, “The Spider-Man Menace.” Intent on showing Jameson just what a menace he can be, Peter changes into Spider-Man and swings over to the publisher’s apartment building. When he arrives, Spider-Man is shocked to see Jameson being attacked by a silver-gray werewolf. Noting that he recently encountered a werewolf in San Francisco, Spider-Man swings in and attacks the monster, trying to drive it off. However, the werewolf overpowers Spider-Man and knocks him out. When he comes to, he finds the creature has fled, leaving Jameson unharmed. Ready to go after the werewolf, Spider-Man is surprised when Jameson tries to coerce him into leaving the monster alone. Telling Jameson he has a weird sense of gratitude, Spider-Man swings off into the night. A couple of hours later, while Spider-Man is stalking the rooftops, the werewolf attacks him again. As they struggle, Spider-Man notices the werewolf is wearing a gemstone at its throat that looks strangely familiar. However, the werewolf bolts into an alley and disappears when the moon starts to set. Spider-Man tries to pursue the creature but stumbles into some garbage cans, having lost a lot of blood from a nasty gash in his chest. He staggers back to his apartment, bandages himself up, and collapses into bed wondering why Jameson would want to protect a monster that tried to kill him.
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In the morning, Spider-Man goes to the <i>Daily Bugle</i> offices to confer with Joe Robertson but is chased off by the police. Having inhaled some tear gas, Spider-Man changes into Peter Parker and takes refuge at Mary Jane’s apartment, but they argue and he storms out thinking she is just a shallow party girl after all. Later, while web-swinging around the city, Spider-Man deduces that the werewolf he fought last night may be Jameson’s son, Colonel John Jameson. He swings over to the astronaut’s apartment building and, sure enough, finds the werewolf attacking a young woman. After a brief struggle, Spider-Man manages to rip the gemstone from his foe’s throat, only to realize that it was grafted to the creature’s skin. Howling in agony, the werewolf collapses and changes into Colonel Jameson. After hurling the gemstone into the Hudson River, Spider-Man tells J. Jonah Jameson, who has emerged from the apartment building, to get his son to the hospital. When Jameson frets about negative publicity, Spider-Man yells at him and walks off in disgust.
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Realizing that fighting is the only thing that makes him feel better, a grim Spider-Man haunts the rooftops and back alleys of the city for the rest of the month. However, the petty street crime he finds offers little challenge.
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<b>May 1966 –</b> Peter returns to the ESU campus only to have the people around him inexplicably start changing into hideous, demonic monsters. Soon, the city itself also starts to transform into a weird, alien landscape. Changing into Spider-Man, he tries to contain the rampaging monsters. As the fight spills out into the streets of New York, Spider-Man runs into the Fantastic Four—Mister Fantastic, the Thing, the Human Torch, and their newest recruit, Medusa—and they coordinate their efforts. Less than an hour after it began, the city suddenly changes back to normal and the demons revert to their ordinary human forms. A couple minutes later, all the tremendous damage done to the city during the battle is abruptly undone, as if by magic. Later, the Avengers report that the entire incident was merely a mass hallucination created by a super-villain whom they have defeated.
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When he comes upon Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner fighting with some muggers in an alley, Spider-Man assumes the undersea monarch is in New York to cause trouble again. However, he quickly learns that Namor is in fact trying to hunt down the villains who killed his father. Sympathetic, Spider-Man agrees to help the Sub-Mariner seek justice. His spider-sense leads them to a seemingly abandoned trawler floating outside the 12-mile limit, in which they discover an elevator shaft to the villains’ lair on the ocean floor. Breaking into the hidden complex, Spider-Man and Sub-Mariner are captured by Tiger Shark and the mad scientist Dr. Lemuel Dorcas, who is trying to animate a group of “men-fish” he has genetically engineered. The heroes help each other escape confinement, and the subsequent battle wrecks the installation. The base is completely destroyed, causing the trawler and its elevator shaft to explode, but Spider-Man and the Sub-Mariner make it out in the nick of time. Namor seems unsatisfied with his revenge, though, as he takes Spider-Man back to shore.
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On his way to ESU one morning, Spider-Man is flagged down by a couple of advertising executives. They try to convince him to create a “Spider-Mobile” using an experimental non-polluting engine made by one of their clients, Corona Motors. Thinking it’s a stupid idea, Spider-Man rejects their offer and continues on his way. When he arrives on campus, he changes back into Peter Parker and runs into Professor Miles Warren, who chides him for not attending class. Peter apologizes sheepishly, then blows up at Mary Jane and Flash when they try to coax him out to the campus coffee shop. After a miserable day, Peter returns home to find an eviction notice, revealing that the rent hasn’t been paid since Norman Osborn died. Peter had assumed that Harry was taking care of it, but they’ve hardly spoken lately since his roommate has been spending most of his time at his father’s townhouse. Since he hasn’t sold many photos to the <i>Daily Bugle</i> for a while, Peter knows he can’t cover the rent on his own and worries about losing the apartment.
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Thus, the next morning, Spider-Man heads back to the advertising agency and accepts their offer in return for a $1,000 cash advance. When he asks about getting blueprints for the car, though, the ad men tell him he’ll need to design and build the vehicle himself. Realizing that would be beyond his mechanical engineering skills, Spider-Man decides to seek help from the Human Torch, a well-known sportscar aficionado. On his way to the Baxter Building, Spider-Man is ambushed by the Kangaroo, whose powers have been augmented since the last time they clashed. However, the Kangaroo suddenly abandons the fight when he develops a severe headache, and Spider-Man, not interested in a grudge match with a third-rate super-villain, decides not to pursue him. At the Fantastic Four’s headquarters, Spider-Man finds the Human Torch in a foul mood, but his interest is piqued by the idea of building a “Spider-Mobile” from scratch. They work on some design ideas for a couple of hours, but then a report comes in that the Kangaroo has broken into a nearby nuclear laboratory. Still annoyed with the Torch for abandoning him in the middle of a rescue mission a few months ago, Spider-Man insists that his fight with the Kangaroo is a personal matter and he doesn’t need any help. Arriving at the Hudson Nuclear Laboratories, Spider-Man confronts the Kangaroo, who has been hired to steal some dangerous radioactive isotopes. Ignoring Spider-Man’s warnings, the Kangaroo charges into a highly radioactive vault and dies instantly. Horrified, Spider-Man seals the vault with his webbing just as the police fire tear-gas canisters into the lab. Slipping past the police, Spider-Man then web-swings aimlessly around the city for a few hours, feeling lonely and dispirited. The next day, Peter settles up with his landlord so he won’t be evicted from his apartment.
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As the semester ends, Peter learns that he’s failed all his classes due to non-attendance and becomes even more depressed. Worried about flunking out of college and letting Aunt May down, he heads to a secluded arbor on campus to change into Spider-Man. Though his spider-sense starts tingling, Peter doesn’t see anyone nearby and decides to ignore it. He changes into his costume and swings off for home, lost in his troubled thoughts. Not long after, Peter has his 21st birthday, and though he’d rather spend it alone, Mary Jane insists on taking him out to dinner. She apologizes for the fight they had at her apartment last month and reveals that Harry had just dumped her, which is why she was so unsympathetic towards Peter. He tells her about his own strained relationship with Harry and agrees to hang out with Mary Jane occasionally over the summer.
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<b>June 1966 –</b> Mary Jane drags Peter to a motorcycle stunt show at Madison Square Garden, though she insists that he buy their tickets. Peter is not enthusiastic about being there but nevertheless becomes fascinated by the stuntman called “Ghost Rider,” who wears a creepy “blazing skull” helmet and performs spectacular leaps. During the show, a villain wearing a large “eyeball” helmet and his half-a-dozen henchmen come riding into the arena. However, when the villain starts putting the audience into a hypnotic trance, Peter realizes it’s not part of the act. Alerted by his spider-sense, Peter avoids being hypnotized, then slips off and changes into Spider-Man. As he attacks the henchmen, Spider-Man is surprised when Ghost Rider starts shooting fire out of his hands and assumes he must be wearing a flame-thrower rig under his leather suit. The villain, calling himself the Orb, kidnaps one of Ghost Rider’s assistants, a cute blonde named Roxanne Simpson, and offers to exchange her for complete ownership of the motorcycle stunt show. Ghost Rider is ready to capitulate to save Roxanne’s life, but Spider-Man is confident they can track the Orb to his lair and take him by surprise, since he was able to tag the villain with a spider-tracer during the fight. Sure enough, Spider-Man and Ghost Rider trail the Orb to an old power room on an abandoned subway spur. While Spider-Man is fighting with the henchmen, though, the Orb rides off with his hostage and Ghost Rider pursues him. After webbing up all the henchmen, Spider-Man takes one of their motorcycles and goes after his spooky partner, though he finds the bike much harder to control than the one he used to ride to and from campus. The chase leads them right through Grand Central Station, where Spider-Man finally manages to snag Roxanne with his webbing and pull her off the Orb’s bike. She sails through the air and lands safely in Spider-Man’s arms. Ghost Rider chases the Orb back inside the building. When he comes back out a few minutes later, Ghost Rider reports that the Orb tried to escape back down the subway tunnel but was hit by an oncoming train. Ghost Rider managed to save himself, though his motorcycle was crushed under the train. As the leather-clad couple walks off down the street, Spider-Man swings away, freaked out by the fact that Ghost Rider’s head looks much more like a real flaming skull than a mask or a motorcycle helmet.
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<b>July–August 1966 –</b> Peter and Mary Jane continue to see each other socially and get to know each other better, though Peter spends much of his time in search of newsworthy photos he can sell in order to pay the rent. On a semi-regular basis, Spider-Man heads over to the Baxter Building, where he and the Human Torch continue working on their Spider-Mobile project.
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<b>September 1966 –</b> When the fall semester starts at Empire State University, Peter is frustrated that he has to repeat his classes from the spring in order to finish his junior year. To make matters worse, Professor Warren treats Peter with thinly disguised contempt, often berating him for his cavalier attitude toward his studies. While web-swinging around after midnight one night, Spider-Man comes across a crime scene right outside Mary Jane’s apartment building. A young woman has been murdered on the sidewalk and Mary Jane is a witness. However, she’s too afraid to go to the police, believing the killer will come after her. When Peter fails to convince Mary Jane to come forward, he changes back into Spider-Man and goes looking for the killer. It is not long before he is ambushed by the Vulture, who is being uncharacteristically aggressive. Admitting that he killed the woman, the Vulture manages to knock Spider-Man out, then flies off, leaving him for dead. When he comes to, Spider-Man heads over to the Baxter Building, where he and the Human Torch pull an all-nighter working on the Spider-Mobile. At dawn, Spider-Man goes home to get a couple hours of sleep before attending Professor Warren’s class.
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Grabbing a quick breakfast before heading to campus, Peter is surprised to find Harry in the apartment, but Harry is belligerent, insisting that while they may have been roommates, they were never really friends. Stung, Peter makes his way to ESU, where Mary Jane claims to have been lying about witnessing the murder. Before Peter can press her on the matter, Flash Thompson offers them a ride in his new car. However, the Vulture swoops down and plucks Mary Jane right out of the convertible and flies off with her. Distracted, Flash drifts over the center line, swerves to avoid an oncoming van, and crashes into a telephone pole. Saved from injury by his superhuman reflexes, Peter leaves the unconscious Flash and quickly changes into Spider-Man. He rescues Mary Jane when the Vulture drops her but accidentally calls her “Gwen” and worries that he may have compromised his secret identity. He catches up to the Vulture in one of the biology labs, where the villain is menacing a lab assistant. After a brutal battle, Spider-Man manages to drive the Vulture off. He then changes back into Peter Parker and returns to the wrecked lab, hoping to question the lab assistant. Unfortunately, she has already left, and Peter finds only Professor Clifton Shallot, a biochemist that he’s heard good things about. They chat briefly, then Peter leaves to continue his investigation. He soon learns that the lab assistant was one Christine Murrow, who turns out to have been the murdered girl’s roommate. Later, at the <i>Daily Bugle</i> offices, Peter discovers that the original Vulture, Adrian Toomes, is still in jail, meaning he must be dealing with an impostor. Changing into Spider-Man, he then persuades an underworld informant to reveal that the new Vulture has been seen hanging around a particular ship on the waterfront. Heading to the docks, he has a look around as Peter Parker, only to be grabbed by the Vulture. The villain complains that it’s the second time he’s caught Peter snooping around, then drops him into the river and flies off. Peter is confused by this comment until he realizes that the phony Vulture must be Clifton Shallot, apparently having mutated himself into a doppelgänger of Toomes, probably with help from Christine Murrow. Peter reasons that Shallot, driven to crime when his research money ran out, must have decided to kill off Murrow to protect his secrets but accidentally murdered her lookalike roommate instead.
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Returning to Mary Jane’s apartment, Peter finds she is ready to go to the police, but on the way to the station the Vulture attacks them again, causing their taxi to crash. Mary Jane is knocked out and the driver is stunned, giving Peter a chance to tumble into a stairwell and change into Spider-Man. He protects Mary Jane with his webbing, causing the Vulture to fly off in a rage. Spider-Man then swings back to the waterfront and convinces the captain of the ship to turn over a sample of the chemicals he is transporting. Clipping the vial to his belt, Spider-Man heads to Clifton Shallot’s biology lab, where he finds the phony Vulture inside a mutation chamber being operated by Christine Murrow. She confirms his suspicions, then he and the Vulture fight until Spider-Man can force his foe to ingest the antidote. Thinking he’s been poisoned, Shallot collapses to the floor, reverts to his normal appearance, and passes out. Spider-Man chastises Murrow for doing nothing while Shallot was murdering people, but she denies any responsibility. Both Shallot and Murrow are soon taken into police custody.
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<b>October 1966 –</b> On his way to see a movie one night, Peter spots a super-villain calling himself the Basilisk crashing through the wall of a museum. Quickly changing into Spider-Man, he confronts the Basilisk, only to find the villain’s eye-beams can burn right through his webbing. The Basilisk overpowers Spider-Man and beats him nearly unconscious, but luckily he is rescued by the alien superhero Captain Marvel. After the villain has been driven off, Captain Marvel explains that the Basilisk gained his powers from an ancient Kree artifact called the Alpha Stone and is now searching for its counterpart, the Omega Stone, to increase his power. Spider-Man agrees to help Captain Marvel track down the Omega Stone before the Basilisk gets his hands on it. Their search leads them to a construction site in Manhattan’s Financial District, where they clash with the Basilisk again. While Spider-Man keeps their foe busy, Captain Marvel unearths the Omega Stone, but it suddenly grows to gigantic size and completely envelops him. The crystal then disappears in a blinding flash, taking Captain Marvel with it. Frustrated, the Basilisk flies off, and Spider-Man decides to seek help from the Fantastic Four.
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At the Baxter Building, however, Mister Fantastic informs Spider-Man that the team has disbanded. Clearly very depressed, Mister Fantastic is initially disinclined to help, but Spider-Man lays a guilt trip on him until he agrees to join forces to rescue Captain Marvel. Taking the Fantasti-Car, the two heroes trace the peculiar energy signature of the Omega Stone down to Subterranea, accessing it through a drop tube buried beneath some rubble out in a rural area. No sooner have they landed in the underground realm than Spider-Man and Mister Fantastic are captured by a seemingly numberless horde of creepy Subterraneans. Mister Fantastic suggests they pretend to be unconscious as they are carried into the throne room of the Mole Man. There, they find Captain Marvel, still trapped within the Omega Stone, which has been wired up to serve as the power source for the Mole Man’s gigantic laser-cannon. The Mole Man rants about his plans to use the weapon to devastate the surface world, then orders Spider-Man and Mister Fantastic thrown into a magma pit. They manage to save themselves, only to have the Basilisk turn up, determined to have the Omega Stone for himself. While the Basilisk is busy fighting the Mole Man and his Subterraneans, Mister Fantastic sets the laser-cannon to self-destruct. Captain Marvel escapes from the Omega Stone by transforming into his human alter-ego, Rick Jones. The destruction of the laser-cannon causes the magma pit to violently erupt, and the Omega Stone and both villains are lost in the resulting conflagration. Spider-Man, Mister Fantastic, and Rick Jones race to the Fantasti-Car as the tunnels collapse behind them. Once they have reached the surface, Jones changes back into Captain Marvel and flies away. Mister Fantastic then gives Spider-Man a lift back to Manhattan.
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<b>November 1966 –</b> At ESU, Peter comes upon the aftermath of a fight between the Sub-Mariner and a man in an armored battlesuit calling himself “Force.” Though Force has fled the scene, Sub-Mariner, wearing a new black costume for some reason, seems more interested in locating Professor Damon Walthers, a member of the physics faculty. Determined to find out what is going on, Peter changes into Spider-Man and confronts the Sub-Mariner. Not wanting to waste time fighting Spider-Man, Namor explains that his new costume is actually an elaborate life-support system designed for him by Mister Fantastic after he was exposed to an experimental nerve gas during a recent battle. The gas also threw the entire population of Atlantis into suspended animation, and Namor has come in search of Professor Walthers’ research on force-field technology. He intends to generate a force field around Atlantis to protect his citizens while he and his allies seek a cure for their condition. Spider-Man decides not to interfere, and the Sub-Mariner rushes off. Returning to his studies, Peter realizes that the Sub-Mariner’s loss of his entire kingdom kind of puts Gwen’s death into a new perspective.
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<b>December 1966 –</b> In the middle of the month, Peter offers the <i>Daily Bugle</i> some routine photos of Spider-Man stopping an armored car heist, but Jameson rejects them, saying he needs pictures of a new vigilante in town known as the Punisher. While Peter’s in the office, Betty Brant invites him to the Christmas party she and Ned Leeds are throwing next week. Though he hasn’t exactly been feeling the holiday spirit, Peter says he’ll try to make it. He then changes into Spider-Man and goes looking for the Punisher, but it’s not long before the vigilante ambushes him. They fight on a rooftop, and the Punisher proves to be a surprisingly tough customer. Suddenly, another costumed figure calling himself the Jackal pops out of a chimney and rakes the back of Spider-Man’s head with electrified claws. Dazed, Spider-Man pitches off the roof, saving himself with a web-line that sends him swinging through a window in an office building across the street. When he returns to the roof several minutes later, Spider-Man is surprised to see the Punisher has left an obvious clue behind. He follows up on it after nightfall, only to discover that the Jackal has set a trap to frame the Punisher for the murder of a gun shop owner. Thanks to Spider-Man’s intervention, the Punisher is able to escape before the police arrive on the scene. Before slipping off into the darkness, the Punisher vows to get revenge on the Jackal for double-crossing him. Unfortunately, the police spot Spider-Man leaving the shop, meaning they will probably assume he was involved in the murder. Cursing his luck, Spidey heads for home.
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A few days later, Spider-Man swings over to the Baxter Building to pick up the completed Spider-Mobile. Though he grumbles about the early hour, the Human Torch is proud to unveil the finished product—a dune buggy painted to match Spider-Man’s costume. They load the vehicle into a service elevator and take it down to an alley behind the building. There, the Human Torch explains the control panel for the car’s unique features: a spider-signal and high-capacity web-shooters. Excited, Spider-Man takes it out for a test drive but careens erratically down the snowy street until the Torch forces him to pull over. When Spidey admits he’s never taken a driver’s education course, the flabbergasted Torch spends the next several hours giving him rudimentary driving lessons. Afterwards, a stressed-out Peter finally returns to his apartment. Thanks to a camouflage device that disguises it as an ordinary car, Peter is able to leave the Spider-Mobile parked in the street a few blocks away. Peter is on the phone with Aunt May when Mary Jane shows up unexpectedly, determined to make sure Peter doesn’t miss his physics final exam. As they head to campus together, Mary Jane talks excitedly about Ned and Betty’s Christmas party, which makes Peter feel pressured to attend. Over the next couple of nights, Spider-Man practices his driving skills.
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On Christmas Eve, Spider-Man is cruising around in the Spider-Mobile when he comes across Hammerhead’s gang stealing boxes of files from a law firm. Though he snags most of the crooks with his car’s web-shooters, Spider-Man is caught by surprise when Hammerhead slams into the Spider-Mobile and upends it. Having been training for their inevitable rematch, Hammerhead manages to knock Spidey out, and the gang escapes before he comes to. Waking up to find a couple of beat cops examining the overturned dune buggy, Spider-Man webs them up, kicks the car over, and drives off. As he is leaving, though, he spots an envelope in the snow with Aunt May’s name on it. Snatching the envelope with a web-line, Spider-Man takes it with him as he drives over to Betty Brant’s apartment for the Christmas party. After activating his car’s camouflage system, he changes into Peter Parker and joins the other guests, mostly people from the <i>Daily Bugle</i>. However, Peter quickly excuses himself and retreats into the guest bedroom to open the envelope. He is shocked to find a copy of a letter written by the Montreal attorney Jean-Pierre Rimbaud informing Aunt May that she has inherited an island in Canada that contains one of the richest sources of uranium ever found. The island is also the site of a privately owned nuclear breeder reactor and, as such, is worth a fortune. Realizing that Doctor Octopus has been trying to get his hands on the property so he can manufacture his own nuclear weapons, Peter changes into Spider-Man and heads immediately to the villain’s mansion in Westchester County.
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When he arrives, Spider-Man is stunned to see Doctor Octopus and Aunt May about to get married. However, the ceremony is disrupted when Hammerhead and his gang burst in, intent on kidnapping Aunt May. Doc Ock hustles his elderly bride out through an emergency exit, so Spider-Man swings around to the back of the house, hoping to intercept them. Unfortunately, his concern for Aunt May’s health makes Spidey careless, and Doc Ock is able to batter him with his metal tentacles. Since Aunt May is convinced that Doctor Octopus is protecting her from Spider-Man’s vicious attack, Spidey backs off, worried that the stress will give her a heart attack. Doc Ock hustles Aunt May into a helicopter and takes off, just as Hammerhead’s gunmen arrive and open fire. When their weapons prove ineffective, Hammerhead orders them to chase after Doctor Octopus in their own helicopter. As it takes off, Spider-Man hitches a ride on the underside of the craft, webbing himself in place for the long flight to Canada. On the way, Spidey reasons that Doc Ock must be planning to get Aunt May’s inheritance by marrying her and then most likely killing her off somehow. The villain must have intercepted the original letter that Rimbaud sent to Aunt May, he realizes, which explains why he kept her on at his Westchester mansion until he got out of jail. Hammerhead must have caught wind of the scheme somehow, which is why his gang was robbing the law firm that morning. But somehow they managed to drop the copy of the letter they were after near the Spider-Mobile. Spidey is grateful for this unlikely stroke of good luck. When they reach the island, Hammerhead’s helicopter rams Doc Ock’s, wrecking both aircraft. As a gun battle erupts between the two gangs, Spider-Man fights his way past Doctor Octopus and grabs Aunt May, who has fainted. He carries her to a nearby hangar, where he finds the island’s supply plane. Spider-Man quickly takes off and sets a course back to New York. Suddenly, the island is destroyed in a huge nuclear explosion. Roused by the sound of the blast, Aunt May comes to, but seeing she is trapped in a small airplane with Spider-Man, she immediately faints again.
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After a harrowing landing at a small airfield outside New York, Spider-Man changes back into Peter Parker and takes Aunt May to Anna Watson’s apartment. They spend Christmas Day with Anna and Mary Jane, and Peter explains to Aunt May about her lost inheritance and the plot to steal it. Though disappointed in Doctor Octopus, Aunt May is grateful for the new mink coat he had given her. Having waited up all night for Peter to return from wherever he disappeared to, Mary Jane spends much of the day asleep. Peter is relieved when Anna says she is happy to have Aunt May stay with her for the time being.
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Two days later, Spider-Man meets with Dr. Curt Connors at his Long Island laboratory, where the scientist explains that his lab assistant, Vincent Stegron, has absconded with research they were conducting for S.H.I.E.L.D. involving cell regeneration with dinosaur tissue from the Savage Land. Connors fears that Stegron may be trying to replicate the experiment that created the Lizard and asks Spider-Man to go to the Savage Land and capture him. Spidey agrees to help and stops by S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, where he calls in the favor Nick Fury owes him for helping defeat the Grey Gargoyle back in March. Fury is obliging and loans Spider-Man a supersonic jet and two S.H.I.E.L.D. pilots. They set out at once for Antarctica. When they arrive the next day, Spider-Man parachutes down into the Savage Land, where he meets up with Ka-Zar and his sabretooth tiger Zabu. They are immediately captured by a horde of Swamp Men and taken to the Temple of the Lizard-King, where they find Stegron. Spidey is shocked to see that Stegron has used Connors’ formula to turn himself into a strange half-man, half-stegosaurus creature and is now planning to use dinosaurs from the Savage Land to conquer the world. Spider-Man and Ka-Zar break free but fail to stop Stegron from launching a huge ark-like airship full of dinosaurs. Snagging a passing pterodactyl with his web-line, Spider-Man reaches the flying ark, leaving Ka-Zar to deal with a dinosaur stampede the villain has initiated.
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When the airship approaches New York City many hours later, Spidey tries attacking Stegron again, but the Dinosaur Man overpowers him and throws him off the ark. Luckily, Spider-Man is rescued by the Black Panther, who had come out to investigate the mystery ship in a Quinjet. After conferring with Connors, Spider-Man and Black Panther work together to devise an extra-strong web formula to use against Stegron’s dinosaurs. Their work is cut short when a radio bulletin announces that the prehistoric horde has rampaged through Central Park and is heading toward Times Square. Racing to the scene, Black Panther fights with Stegron while Spider-Man tries to web up the dinosaurs. Connors arrives soon after and tells Stegron that his transformation into a Dinosaur Man is irreversible, prompting the villain to flee the battle on a pterodactyl. Spider-Man pursues him, though, and ends up knocking him off the creature with a punch in the face. Stegron plunges into the harbor but is apparently too heavy to swim and sinks out of sight. Leaving the pterodactyl webbed to the Statue of Liberty, Spider-Man makes his way back into the city to rendezvous with Dr. Connors and the Black Panther. Though the city has been saved, Spidey feels dejected that he was unable to save Stegron.
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Peter is relieved when he receives his grades and finds he managed to pass all his classes, finally completing his junior year at Empire State University. And though he’s glad he doesn’t have to worry about Aunt May being in danger anymore, Peter is still haunted by Gwen’s death and the painful hole it’s left in his life.
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<b>Notes:</b>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>January 1966 –</b> Spider-Man starts the year with a brief cameo appearance in <i>Fantastic Four</i> #133. Since Peter is busy with college, the Avengers are unable to locate Spider-Man in <i>Daredevil</i> #99.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>February 1966 –</b> The adventures of Spider-Man resume in <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i> #119 and <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #9. The Fantastic Four’s Pogo Plane does not actually appear in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #10, but it’s the only way to make the logistics of the globe-spanning story make sense. After the Green Goblin is killed in <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i> #122, Harry Osborn gets rid of his father’s costume and calls the police. They arrive on the scene before Spider-Man’s webbing has evaporated, making the wall-crawler a ‘person of interest’ in the murder investigation. This cloud of suspicion will hang over Spider-Man for quite some time. Unhinged by his father’s death, Harry begins a slow descent into madness.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>March 1966 –</b> During his encounter with Jack Russell in <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #12, Spider-Man never learns the names of Jack’s sister (Lissa Russell) or his best friend (Buck Cowan). Moondark is in fact killed when he hits the water under the Golden Gate Bridge, but he will be resurrected by one of the demons he serves, in exchange for his immortal soul. In <i>Daredevil</i> #103, Peter inadvertently reveals his dual identity to Daredevil, unaware that masks don’t mean anything to the blind superhero’s hypersenses. Seven years later, Spidey will finally learn Daredevil’s secret identity as well, as seen in <i>Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man</i> #110.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>April 1966 –</b> It is Spider-Man who dubs John Jameson’s lupine alter-ego the “Man-Wolf.” Apparently, the name catches on in the media, as Jameson refers to himself that way in his next appearance.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>May 1966 –</b> Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four team up against the demon hordes of Dormammu in <i>Avengers</i> #118. Doctor Strange undoes all the damage caused during the battle by augmenting his magic with the power of the Evil Eye of Avalon. However, in order to keep the Defenders’ involvement a secret, the Avengers are necessarily vague about what actually happened. In <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i> #126, the Kangaroo is working for the disreputable scientist Jonas Harrow, who previously augmented Hammerhead. While changing into Spider-Man on the ESU campus at the end of the semester, Peter is observed by Miles Warren, who was sexually obsessed with Gwen Stacy and holds Spider-Man responsible for her death. The scene was revealed in a flashback in <i>Spectacular Spider-Man</i> #149. The revelation drives Warren to create the persona of the Jackal as he plots to resurrect Gwen and kill Peter.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>June 1966 –</b> Spider-Man and Ghost Rider remain unaware that the Orb’s weapons were provided by a shadowy cabal known as They Who Wield Power, made up of Prince Rey and the Keeper of the Flame from the lost city of El Dorado along with the Subterranean ceasar known as Tyrannus.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>November 1966 –</b> Spider-Man sticks his nose into Prince Namor’s business in <i>Sub-Mariner</i> #68–69.
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>December 1966 –</b> It isn’t luck but rather the Jackal that gets Rimbaud’s letter into Spider-Man’s hands. While the web-slinger is unconscious, the Jackal plants the envelope next to the Spider-Mobile in the hopes that Spider-Man, Doctor Octopus, and Hammerhead will all destroy each other fighting over it. Later, Spider-Man, Ka-Zar, and the Black Panther remain unaware that Stegron’s ark-like airship has been provided by They Who Wield Power. This brings us up to <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i> #131 and <i>Marvel Team-Up</i> #20.</span>
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<i><b>Jump To:</b> <a href="https://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2023/12/omu-spider-man-year-six.html">Spider-Man – Year Six</a></i>
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<i><b>Jump Back:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2016/02/omu-spider-man-year-four.html">Spider-Man – Year Four</a></i>
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<i><b>Next Issue:</b> <a href="http://originalmarveluniverse.blogspot.com/2018/04/omu-fantastic-four-year-six.html">The Fantastic Four – Year Six</a></i>
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<br />Tony Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133143645643661225noreply@blogger.com4