Four Against the Flood-Tide!

With the Avengers off on a mission, Hawkeye is unable to check the messages because he wasn’t paying attention when Captain America gave everyone the password. In order to jog his memory, Hawkeye subjects himself to the Avengers subliminal recall-inducer. This helps him remember the password and as he climbs out of the chair he becomes aware of an intruder in the mansion. This attacker is the villain known as the Beetle whose suction-cupped fingers and shielded wings prove more than a match for Hawkeye’s trick arrows. Ultimately, Hawkeye gains the upper hand by snaring the Beetle with one of his bolo-arrows. With the Beetle all tied up, Hawkeye is finally able to check the messages and learn that the Avengers have gone off to rescue the Wasp from Attuma.

300 miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras, the Avengers are fighting for their lives aboard Attuma’s ship. The Atlantean barbarian has decided to fight them all in order to prove his superiority to his minions. The Avengers were winning when the Scarlet Witch made the mistake of using her hex on a pillar that caused the room to fill with water, Attuma’s native element. Even though they have lost the advantage, the Avengers fight on. However, they wonder where Hawkeye is and why he hasn’t answered their call.

At that moment, Hawkeye has borrowed an aero-sub from the Fantastic Four and is now racing to the scene. Meanwhile, Attuma’s tidal wave device is causing the seas to become rough for boats and costal towns all over the world are reporting massive flooding.

Back aboard Attuma’s ship, the Scarlet Witch manages to use her hex to shatter the glass between them and the room where Attuma’s minions are observing the battle. As the water begins flooding the other room, Quicksilver tries to speed by the guards. However, he makes the mistake of trying to escape through an ejector-tube and is fired out of the ship like a torpedo. Pietro is knocked out and when he wakes up it is just after he is rescued by Hawkeye. Quicksilver is glad to see him and quickly gets him up to speed with what’s going on. By this time, Attuma has moved his ship and the two Avengers begin searching for it. The pair are soon chased by two of Attuma’s scout-ships. Luckily, the pair manage to stop their pursue by tricking the scouts into getting caught by a massive octopus.

Meanwhile, Attuma has Captain America and Scarlet Witch tied up and brought before him. While the warlord tries to figure out a fitting end for the pair, Captain America plays into Attuma’s ego by doubting the existence of the tidal wave device. Attuma plays right into Cap’s hand and takes them to the location of the tidal machine. Cap then whispers to the Scarlet Witch to follow his lead. At that moment, Hawkeye and Quicksilver finally catch up to Attuma’s ship and ram into it. While Attuma and his army are busy trying to capture the pair, Captain America and the Scarlet Witch manage to get free. They soon join the others and force back Attuma’s forces by taking control of one of his Y-Ray Tanks and forcing them back. The Avengers then board the Aero-Sub and flee the scene. When Attuma tries to get his ship to follow them he discovers that they reversed the flow of his tidal wave device. Before he can get away, Attuma’s ship is sucked into the device destroying them both.[1]

When the Avengers return to their headquarters the Beetle is long gone and the alarm is going off. Racing to their computer the Avengers find another distress call concerning the Wasp.[2]

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Captain America, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch), Attuma, Beetle

Continuity Notes

1. This is not the end of Attuma. He will (pardon the pun) resurface in Tales to Astonish #88.

2. The Wasp tried to warn the Avengers about the Sub-Mariner last issue and was captured by Attuma. What happened to her after this is revealed next issue.

Topical References

• A news reporter covering the flooding caused by Attuma’s tidal device is depicted as Chet Huntley and addresses his co-anchor as David Brinkley. The pair were news journalists who were hosts of the Huntley-Brinkley Report which ran on CBS from 1956 until 1970. This is topical because the show has been cancelled and both Huntley and Brinkley are very, very dead.