This Hostage Earth!

Giant-Man receives an alarm from the ants in a nearby ant-hill. Although the Wasp doesn’t think this is a big deal, he calls the Avengers anyway. Unfortunately, the other Avengers — particularly Thor — consider this a trivial matter. When Giant-Man points out that this might be the work of the Mole Man, Thor reminds him that the Fantastic Four reported the villain destroyed during their last encounter.[1] This angers Giant-Man who decides to investigate the situation alone.

What they don’t know is that the Mole Man survived his last encounter and is responsible for the upheaval. He has built a device that is slowly increasing the speed of Earth’s rotation in order to wipe out all life on the surface. This is a gradual process affecting smaller structures such as anthills, hence why Giant-Man received his warning.

While exploring the anthill, a sudden quake causes Giant-Man to fall down a deep pit into the Mole Man’s domain. his ability to increase his size is all that saves him from the deep fall. Unfortunately, he is no match for the Mole Man and his horde of Moloids, who quickly take the Avenger captive.

Meanwhile, the effects of the Mole Man’s weapon are beginning to be detected by humans as tremors begin to affect buildings and bridges across the world. The Avengers quickly gather and realize that they were wrong to dismiss Giant-Man’s warnings. To see if the Mole Man is involved, the Wasp uses the Avengers image projector to send an image of herself deep underground.[2] The Wasp confirms the situation and that Giant-Man is also a prisoner. Detecting the Wasp’s intrusion, the Mole Man sends an army of Moloids up to the surface to attack the Avengers in their headquarters. They arrive just as the Avengers are planning to use a fox-hole digger developed by Stark Industries to reach the Mole Man’s lair. Although they are ambushed, the Avengers eventually gain the upper hand against the invaders. Suddenly, the room fills with smoke and the Moloids vanish without a trace.

With the immediate danger over, Captain America and Rick Jones are sent to collect some additional components from a Stark warehouse. There they catch some crooks trying to rob the place and quickly wrap them up for the authorities.[3] Thor then uses Mjolnir to detect where to dig.

Meanwhile, the Mole Man doesn’t understand how his Moloids were returned to Subterranea without his orders. That’s when the Red Ghost makes his presence known. He reveals that it was his power of intangibility that allowed him to return the Moloids. Having abandoned his Super-Apes, the Red Ghost then suggests an alliance. Having heard of the Red Ghost and his past battle with the Fantastic Four, the Mole Man accepts his offer.[4] That’s when an alarm goes off warning them that the Avengers are about to arrive. When they do, the Mole Man is ready with various traps and the Red Ghost assists with his atomic cannon. While the male Avengers keep their foes distracted, the Wasp locates and frees Giant-Man.

With the addition to Giant-Man in the ranks, the Avengers easily trash the various weapons, traps, and Moloid forces. The Mole Man and Red Ghost then retreat into the device that is speeding up Earth’s rotation and threaten to set it to maximum speed unless the Avengers surrender. Luckily, Giant-Man has shrunk down to ant-size and rips up enough wires to short circuit the device. As the Mole Man and Red Ghost flee, Thor uses Mjolnir to smash the weapon so it cannot be used again. When the Avengers return to the surface, they all unanimously agree to apologize to Giant-Man for doubting him. While back below the Earth’s surface, the Mole Man and Red Ghost bicker over whose fault it was that they lost.

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Giant-Man, Wasp), Rick Jones, Mole Man, Red Ghost, Monk

Continuity Notes

1. Giant-Man and Thor reference the FF’s two prior encounters with the Mole Man. These took place in Fantastic Four #22 and 31 respectively.

2. Reference is made to the fact that this device was last used by Iron Man during the Avengers search for the Hulk. That happened in Avengers #3.

3. One of the crooks is a thug they call Monk. He will go on to become the Ape-Man in the Ani-Men/Unholy Three in Daredevil #10. This is revealed in the Ape-Man profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Master Edition #24.

4. Mole Man recounts how the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes fought the Fantastic Four on the moon. That happened in Fantastic Four #13. Although the Red Ghost abandoned his Super-Apes here, he’d go back to working with them again after this. Chronologically, this will be in FF (vol. 2) #13, where the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes get caught in a Chronospike that brings them briefly forward in time and into a battle with the Future Foundation.

Topical References

• What makes Stark Industries fox-hole digger so revolutionary is that it runs on transistors. With is not that impressive since these are common in all electronics now.

• The Wasp is glad that the Moloids aren’t using DDT. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane was once used as an insecticide until they discovered it also caused cancer in humans. It has been banned from use since the 1970s.