Hammer of Vengeance!

Following their battle with the Lethal Legion, the Avengers have been ambushed by their employer, the newly super-powered Count Nefaria. The Avengers quickly discover that the Maggia boss now has enhanced strength, durability, as well as the ability to project laser beams from his eyes. The Beast is particularly eager to take Nefaria down because he was responsible for the death of Thunderbird, one of the X-Men.[1]

Wonder Man finds himself freezing up in battle because he fears for his mortality after his past brush with death.[2] His attacks on Nefaria are shrugged off and the villain sends him crashing through the wall of Avengers Mansion with a single blow. This concerns Jarvis who rushes to the basement where the Vision has been undergoing repairs since the team’s battle with Ultron.[3] Unsure how to wake the android up, Jarvis pleads with the Vision to come out of his coma and help the rest of the Avengers.

Outside, the battle against Count Nefaria continues in vain. Nefaria shocks everyone by being able to snatch Captain America’s shield out of the air. However, when he attempts to crush it, he finds that it is nearly indestructible.[4] By this time, Wonder Man has made it back outside but fails to stop Nefaria from dropping a building on the whole team. Soon, the police have set up a cordon around the scene of the battle. Among the crowd watching the battle, a red-haired man in sunglasses uses his identification to get past the cordon and wander into Avengers Mansion through the hole in the wall created by Nefaria.[5]

Convinced that he has destroyed the Avengers, Nefaria decides to show the world just how powerful he is by robbing a bank. However, after he rips the vault off its hinges with his bare hands, he now finds the money inside useless to him now that he is unstoppable. He then snatches an attractive woman off the street and takes her up to a nearby rooftop. Before he can do whatever he planned for the woman, Nefaria is confronted by the Whizzer.[6] The Whizzer is no match for the Count’s powers, but he manages to get into Nefaria’s head by suggesting that his powers will become useless when he grows old, pointing out the fact that Nefaria must be in his fifties at least. Nefaria spares Robert Frank’s life for giving him a new purpose: finding the key to immortality. While back at Project N, Kenneth Sturdy emerges from the lab wreckage, cursing Nefaria as a fool.

Meanwhile, Iron Ma has arrived on the scene, cursing his current troubles as Tony Stark from keeping him away from his duties as the Avengers chairman.[7] Fearing for the Avengers’ safety, Iron Man blasts away the rubble of the building dropped on the team to discover they survived thanks to the quick thinking of the Scarlet Witch and Wonder Man. While Wanda blasted out the street with her hex powers, Wonder Man held the rubble up until they could be rescued. However, the Avengers are not as grateful for the save because they are all angry with Iron Man for not being there at the start of this attack, as he is supposed to be the leader of the Avengers.

That’s when Count Nefaria comes crashing into their headquarters for the second time that day. This time he has come seeking Thor, hoping that he can learn the secrets to immortality from the thunder god. The Avengers have no way of contacting their ally, prompting Nefaria to trounce them once again. In the middle of the battle, Yellowjacket suddenly takes off. Soon Wonder Man is the last man standing but he too is no match for Nefaria’s seemingly endless strength. That’s when lightning begins to strike all around the villain, announcing the arrival of Thor who is eager to avenge his fallen friends.[8]

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Yellowjacket, Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, the Vision, the Beast, Wonder Man), Count Nefaria, the Whizzer, Edwin Jarvis, Henry Gyrich (unidentified), Kenneth Sturdy.

Continuity Notes

1. Thunderbird was a short-lived member of the “All-New” X-Men formed in Giant-Size X-Men #1. He died trying to stop Nefaria from escaping after a failed attempt to take over NORAD. See X-Men #94-95. He will remain one of the many characters who remained dead for a long time, only being resurrected for brief periods as seen in X-Force (vol. 3) #10 through 25 and Chaos War: X-Men #1-2. At the time of this writing, the X of Swords Handbook #1 states that Thunderbird was one of the mutants brought back to life by Krakoa’s Resurrection Protocols.

2. Wonder Man seemingly died in Avengers #9, but as explained last issue, he actually went underwent a metamorphosis and woke up in Avengers #151.

3. The Avengers battle Ultron in Avengers #161-162.

4. That’s because that shit is made from an early proto-type of Adamantium and Vibranium, as detailed in Captain America #303.

5. The man entering Avengers Mansion is unidentified here. He is revealed to be Henry Gyrich of the National Security Agency in Avengers #168.

6. The Whizzer refers to the Scarlet Witch as his daughter here. They were led to believe they were family in Giant-Size Avengers #1. However, they are actually not related at all. It’s later revealed in Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #4 that she is the daughter of Natalia Maximoff and an unidentified father.

7. Tony Stark is under investigation for bribery by Senator Andrew Hawk. See Iron Man #95-100.

8. Thor’s sudden appearance here is due to the machinations of the Collector. As details in Avengers #175, he had plucked Thor out of time to help the Avengers in order to keep them alive until he was able to add them all to his collection. He is doing so in order to protect them from destruction at the hands of Korvac. Thor was pulled out of time in the middle of a search for his father which ran from Thor #255-266. He will be returned to his proper place in time with no memory of what happened.