The Ultroids Attack!

Captain America is surprised to see the Scarlet Witch has returned home so soon after she and her brother returned to their homeland to restore their waning powers.[1] Wanda tells him that she and her brother Pietro were testing out their powers before returning and enjoying time in Transia, a village that once chased them out thinking they were monsters.[2] However, one day an alien ship landed outside of town and they went to investigate it as Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. Pietro raced ahead and once inside the ship, the door closed behind him trapping him inside. Wanda attempted to use her hex powers on the ship, but they had no effect. Fearing for her brother’s safety, Wanda then raced back to America to enlist the aid of the Avengers.

When Captain America goes to get the others, he walks in on an argument between Goliath and Hawkeye. The archer wants the Black Widow to be accepted as a member of the Avengers, but Goliath refuses to allow this since he recently attacked the group with the Swordsman and Power Man.[3] The argument becomes heated and the pair almost come to blows if not for the intervention of both Captain America and the Wasp.[4] With Quicksilver in danger, the two Avengers quickly put aside their differences to focus on the task at hand. Soon, the Avengers and the Black Widow take a supersonic jet to Transia. When they arrive over the country, they see no sign of the alien ship, but Wanda somehow senses that there is a protective dome over the region. When they land outside the city they are able to see the alien ship because it is apparently invisible from detection from the air. Unfortunately, none of them are able to break through the barrier keeping them out. That’s when the Scarlet Witch suddenly remembers that there is a cave that will lead them under the city.

The tunnel leads them into a vast alien complex where they are greeted by the voice of Ixar, the mastermind behind this invasion.[5] Ixar explains that he has come to Earth to capture super-heroes to aid in his intergalactic war.[6] To this end he has captured both Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch and reveals that they are contained in stasis tubes. That’s when the woman who led them here drops her disguise, revealing that she is an android under the command of Ixar.[7] Ixar then unleashes his army of Ultroids, androids that he intends to endow with the powers he steals from the Avengers. The Ultroids are still a formidable force even without the powers of Earth’s mightiest heroes and one-by-one the Avengers begin to fall until only Captain America and the Black Widow are left standing.

However, despite their best efforts to try and free the others, the pair are found by the Ultroids and taken down with stun rays and taken prisoner as well.

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Captain America, Goliath, Wasp, Hawkeye), Ultroids (Ixar, Ultana), Black Widow, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch

Continuity Notes

1. Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch discovered that their powers were fading in Avengers #30 and returned to their homeland in the hopes that it would restore their abilities. The reason their powers are fading here is that the Scarlet Witch is sought after by the demon known as Chthon who seeks to possess her body. Something we will not learn until Avengers #185-187.

2. This story references that the Maximoff twins were last seen in X-Men #27. As explained in X-Men #4, the twins were chased out of their hometown when their powers started manifesting themselves. They were then rescued by Magneto and were forced into serving in his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants until X-Men #11 when they left. Later, they joined the Avengers in Avengers #16.

3. Natasha was brainwashed by her handlers at the time she recruited the Swordsman and Power Man against the Avengers. See Avengers #29-30.

4. Quite a bit of history being thrown around during this argument. The facts:

   • Goliath states that he was one of the founding Avengers. He joined the group as Ant-Man back in Avengers #1. He and the Wasp had been on a leave of absence recently until Avengers #28.

   • Goliath states here that he doesn’t want the Avengers to become a “rest home for reformed super-villains” except it kind of already was. When Goliath went on leave with the other founders in Avengers #16, they were replaced by Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch who were all former criminals seeking redemption.

   • Goliath name drops that he fought villains like the Colossus while Hawkeye was busy “causing trouble” for Iron Man. The Colossus Pym is speaking of is the alien that he fought in Tales to Astonish #58. Weird flex, but Giant-Man’s rogues’ gallery was shit back then. When Hawkeye began his career he was roped into helping the Black Widow try and destroy Iron Man in Tales of Suspense #57.

5. Unidentified here, Ixar’s race is revealed to be the Sirians in the alien appendix in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #5.

6. Whom Ixar is at war with is not revealed here. The Lucifer entry in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #6, X-Men Index #1, and Avengers Index #1 confirms that the Quist are the race that the Sirians were at war with. A statement in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition #15 that states that the Ixar’s foes are unknown should be considered an error.

7. This female android is identified as Ultrana next issue.