With a Bang — And a Whimper!

The Sentinels have captured the Scarlet Witch. Her brother, Quicksilver, has just arrived in Australia with Larry Trask in the hopes of saving her. Larry, a mutant himself, has had a precognitive vision foretelling the death of the Avengers at the hands of the Sentinels and the destruction of the Earth when the sun goes nova.[1]

Quicksilver races to the Sentinel’s “ant-hill” base in the middle of the outback. There he finds his fellow Avengers already locked in battle with the Sentinels. That’s when Larry recalls that there is a secret entrance nearby. Pietro decides to bypass the battle in order to get inside and save his sister.

Not long after Pietro’s departure, the Vision manages to disable the attacking Sentinels with his phasing powers before they have a chance to adapt to those powers. Entering the facility, the Avengers find themselves fighting off the base defenses and more Sentinels.

Deep below the surface, the leader of the Sentinels, the partially melted Number Two holds the Scarlet Witch captive. He has her hooked into a machine that is powering the device that is causing the Earth’s sun to grow unstable.[2] The robot explains that he is causing this instability in order to create enough solar radiation to make the entire human race sterile. With humans incapable of reproducing, no more mutants can be born. Then, the Sentinels will work on biologically engineering the next generation of humans, making them unable to birth mutant offspring. That’s when the intruder alarm goes off, distracting Number Two. With her captor gone, Wanda looks around the room and notices that the Sentinels are using a Cerebro mutant detector but, for some reason, the device has been shut off.

Elsewhere, Quicksilver and Larry Trask have just entered the facility. Larry’s precognitions continue coming in painfully, warning him that the world is about to end. The pair run into a lone Sentinel. Trying to outrun it, Pietro discovers that the robot can match his speed. He then tricks the robot by running into a nearby wall. The Sentinel is unable to stop in time and is seriously damaged. However, this reckless move causes the robot to fall on top of Quicksilver, seriously injuring him as it also pins him to the ground. Pietro then orders Larry to go on without him and find the Avengers and warn them of what will happen. As soon as Trask has left, Pietro sees a strange light begins to fill the room.[3]

As Larry searches for the Avengers, the team is confronted by Number Two and his subordinates. It’s here that Captain America notices that Number Two is partially melted. The robot explains that it flew closest to the sun when the Sentinels tried to destroy it.[4] While the robot details its plans for humanity, the Vision slips away and frees the Scarlet Witch. While they ambush the Sentinels, Larry Trask arrives and finds the Cerebro machine. Seeing that it is turned off, he turns it back on. Suddenly, all the mutants in the room begin to glow. This also includes Number Two, who is apparently mutated during its close proximity to the sun.[5] When the truth is revealed, the other Sentinels turn on their leader and destroy him. However, with the destruction of Number Two, the Sentinels deactivate and collapse to the ground. Larry Trask, unluckily is standing under one of the falling Sentinels and is crushed to death.

Unaware that Quicksilver is trapped somewhere in the Sentinel base, the Avengers depart after burying the facility under tons of rock.[6]

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, the Vision), Larry Trask, Sentinels (Numbers 2, 3, and 5)

Continuity Notes

1. Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are referred to as mutants multiple times in this story. However, they actually aren’t. As revealed in Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5, the pair were experimented upon by the High Evolutionary as babies. To cover up his work, he made it so genetic tests on the twins would have them register as mutants.

2. Number Two states here that he tried to find Marvel Girl of the X-Men, but was unable to locate her. At the time of this story, the X-Men’s own book went from original stories to publishing reprints and was on the verge of cancelation. As such the X-Men kind of disappeared for a time appearing here and there in other titles. Here are some in-universe facts:

   • The last original X-Men story of the era was told in X-Men #66, the title would go into reprints until a new team is introduced in Giant-Size X-Men #1 with new X-Men stories appearing in its own book starting in X-Men #94.

   • The Avengers will eventually cross paths with the X-Men in Avengers #110-111, however, the team will have many adventures in-between, some told around the time of publication, others later. They include Spider-Man and the X-Men #1, the 2nd story of X-Men (vol. 2) #94, X-Men: The Hidden Years #1-22, and Marvel Team-Up #4, and (if you consider it part of continuity) X-Men: First Class (vol. 2) #1-16 and X-Men: First Class - Finals #1-4.

3. It’s later revealed in Fantastic Four #131 that Pietro was rescued by Crystal of the Inhumans.

4. As detailed in Avengers #57-59, the Sentinels were convinced to try and destroy the sun because it was the likely cause for mutants. It went about as well as you’d expect.

5. Number two mentions how the Sentinels were created by Bolivar Trask and that he is the leader of the Sentinels after the destruction of Master Mold. Trask created the Sentinels and Master Mold in X-Men #14. However, they proved to be a threat to the whole world, not just mutants, and Trask sacrificed his life to destroy Master Mold in issue #16 of that series.

6. Although sealed up here, the Sentinels return to using this base for a brief period of time many years later, as seen in Wolverine (vol. 2) #73-74.