Avengers #10
The Avengers Break Up!
After a training session with the Avengers sit down for their regular meeting. Thor decides to bring up the issue of Rick Jones’ status with the team and suggests they give him full membership in the Avengers. Iron Man agrees, saying that it’s time for Rick to take on a costumed identity. However, Captain America veetos this idea because ultimately his decision since he is the one who is training Rick.[1] After the meeting, Rick reveals that he overheard the conversation and asks Captain America when he will be ready. However, Cap isn’t still affected by the death of Bucky and isn’t sure when he’ll be able to have a full-time sidekick again.[2]
Meanwhile, in South America, the Masters of Evil are continuing their endless scheming against the Avengers.[3] However, they are pressed for ideas after their plans with Wonder Man ended in failure.[4] That’s when the Enchantress begins to sense someone trying to contact her telepathically. Before she can cut off contact, a strangely garbed man named Immortus appears before them.[5] Immortus explains that he is a time traveler and the master of a realm known as Limbo and offers his services to defeat the Avengers. The Executioner isn’t impressed with this intruder and attempts to attack him. However, Immortus is able to summon Paul Bunyan from the timestream and the giant easily defeats the Executioner in battle.[6] Impressed with the power Immortus wields, Baron Zemo agrees to work with him.
Immortus then begins working on a plan to trap the Avengers. To this end, Immortus begins publishing advertisements in comic books that offer to give superhuman powers to anyone who inquires. When a member of the Teen Brigade shows this to Rick Jones, he decides to visit the address on the advertisement in the hopes of gaining the powers needed to become an official Avenger. When he arrives at the office, Immortus summons Attila the Hun to subdue the youth and then banishes him to the Tower of London in the 18th Century. When Rick’s absence gets noticed, Teen Brigade calls Captain America to tell him what happened. The Star-Spangled Avenger then goes to the same office. There, Immortus refuses to release Rick unless Captain America brings the rest of the Avengers to him.
Captain America returns to Avengers Mansion and in his angered state tries to force his teammates to follow him by force without explaining himself. Eventually, Giant-Man breaks up the fight and Cap finally explains what is going on. Learning that Rick is in danger, the rest of the team agrees to meet with Immortus. There, Immortus summons beings from across time to battle the Avengers. First, Giant-Man is made to fight the biblical Goliath. However, his ability to change sizes makes defeating Goliath an easy task. Next, Iron Man is forced to battle Merlin the magician. In this case, Iron Man’s high-tech armor is able to trump Merlin’s magic. Thor then battles Hercules and ultimately forces the Greek god to surrender by dangling him out of a window.[7]
Not willing to risk any more defeats, Immortus nabs Captain America and sends him to the 18th Century where he is attacked by the guards at the Tower of London.[8] With no other choice, the rest of the Avengers return to the mansion to wait for word from Captain America. It’s then that they are ambushed by the Masters of Evil. At first, the villains have the upper hand until Captain America and Rick Jones both return to the present and join the battle. Realizing they are fighting a losing battle, the Enchantress casts a spell to send themselves back in time to before they came into contact with Immortus. This time, when Immortus tries mentally contacting her, the Enchantress ignores him.[9]
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Giant-Man, Wasp), Rick Jones, Immortus, Masters of Evil (Baron Zemo, Enchantress, Executioner), Space Phantoms (unidentified)
Continuity Notes
Rick’s status with the Avengers hasn’t really been brought up until this point. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #1 will later clarify that Rick has an honorary membership with the Avengers.
At the time of this story, Captain America believed Bucky had died in 1945, as seen in Avengers #4. However, Bucky survived and was brainwashed by the Russians into becoming the Winter Soldier. Cap will learn the truth in Captain America (vol. 5) #14.
The Executioner complains about Odin reducing his and the Enchantress’s powers. That happened in Avengers #7 after a failed attack on Thor in Journey into Mystery #109.
Last issue Baron Zemo created Wonder Man to infiltrate the Avengers and betray them. Wonder Man ended up switching sides before the process that gave him his powers seemingly killed him. He didn’t really die and will be back in Avengers #131.
What’s unrevealed here is that Immortus is actually the future version of Kang, something we’ll learn in Giant-Size Avengers #3. His motivations here are to try and interfere with the destiny of the Avengers as we’ll learn in Avengers Forever #8. He has been trying to manipulate the group as far back as Avengers #2.
The beings that Immortus seems to pull forward in time — Paul Bunyan, Attila the Hun, the biblical Goliath, Merlin the magician, and Hercules — are not who they appear to be. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #8 states that these are actually Dire Wraiths, while Avengers Forever #8 states that they were actually Space Phantoms. Some clarifications on this:
Limbo is revealed to be a timeless realm where everything happens simultaneously, as demonstrated in Avengers #267 when the Wasp, Hercules, and the Black Knight were in Limbo and came across the Hulk when he was banished there circa Avengers #2.
The Dire Wraiths are shape-shifting aliens who were at war with the planet Galador. The Spaceknight known as ROM uses a weapon to banish Wraiths to Limbo, as seen in ROM #1 among other stories.
That all said, as Avengers Forever #8 points out, those who spend enough time in Limbo (except for Immortus) eventually change into Space Phantoms.
Official Index to the Marvel Universe: Avengers make a point of saying that these impostors could have started off as Dire Wraiths before Limbo transformed them into Space Phantoms.
Thor should recognize that he is fighting an impostor since he encountered the real Hercules centuries earlier as seen in Journey into Mystery Annual #1. There are a couple of explanations that could be at play here. Thor: God of Thunder #3 states that immortals like Thor have a limited capacity for memory and often older memories are forgotten over time. However, I am of the mind that the simplest answer is always the best: Thor probably knew he was fighting his impostor but decided not to vocalize it.
This battle and the details on how Captain America frees Rick Jones are not depicted here. They will finally be detailed in Avengers Classic #10.
The spell cast by Enchantress to send the Masters of Evil into the past and prevent their involvement with Immortus actually created a divergent reality. This reality is identified as Earth-64110 according to the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe. Again, per Avengers Forever #8, Immortus is aware of this ordeal because not only is he allegedly a singular entity in the Multiverse, he also monitored many of the Avengers earliest battles.
