Avengers #74 — Nick Peron

Mar 19

Mar 19 Avengers #74

Pursue the Panther!

21 21 03 19 %h 16 52 h7ih9.png — Credits

The Black Panther has asked the other Avengers to take down the Sons of the Serpent his own way. However, now the Panther is being blamed for a series or robberies of individuals who support the racist organization. Now the media is pressing for the Avengers to do something about their rogue member, as the Sons of the Serpent boast the group is giving their ally carte blanche. Now the Serpent Supreme is claiming that his organization will capture the Black Panther and unmask him on national television. This leaves the Avengers in a situation, as nobody knows that the Black Panther is actually a black man, and his unmasking could further spark race riots across the country due to the Serpent’s racist rhetoric.

In reality, the man committing the robberies is an impostor and the real Black Panther is already a prisoner of the Sons of the Serpent. Forced to watch the Supreme Serpent’s televised proclamation, T’Challa must free himself before the Sons can use him to their own ends.

Following the evening news is another edition of the Dan Dunn Show where the host is welcoming black rights activist Montague Hale and singer Monica Lynne on his show for the third time. On this edition, Hale uses the alleged crimes of the Black Panther to prove that he is right about black Americans being lawless. This angers Montague who calls Dunn a bigot and the two almost come to blows, luckily Monica is able to get between the two men before they can get physical with one another. The Panther, struggling to get free is told by the Supreme Serpent that his struggles are futile.

Meanwhile, the other Avengers have decided to search for the Black Panther by splitting up and scouring the city. This task is made much more difficult due to the gawking of people on the street. The Vision is met with fear and suspicion, prompting him to phase through the street and search the sewers. While at the same time, Yellowjacket is swarmed by young autograph hounds, prompting him to shrink to ant-size to get away from them. In Times Square, Goliath finds that his enhanced height isn’t any help because he ends up blocking traffic during his search. The Wasp is ultimately the one to catch the “Black Panther” robbing an apartment. Confronting this robber and hearing his voice and manner of speech confirms what the Avengers already suspected: That the thief is an impostor. The other Avengers arrive to capture the phony Black Panther, but he manages to get to his escape craft. As he takes off, the impostor fires a gas grenade at Goliath, forcing the Avengers to stop pursuit to save their teammate from taking a fatal dive off the edge of a building.

Returning to Avengers Mansion, the group is trying to figure out their next move when their butler, Jarvis, brings in Monica Lynne. She shows them that the Serpent Supreme has hijacked a television broadcast in order to unmask the Black Panther. Luckily, the Avengers are able to track the signal to an abandoned television station. However, when the Serpent Supreme unmasks the Black Panther the group knows it is an impostor because of his green eyes. The Vision then uses his phasing power to find the real Black Panther in an adjacent room. Also there is another man wearing the Serpent Supreme outfit. The Vision frees the Black Panther and the pair drag out the second Serpent Supreme. Then, before a startled audience, they reveal that the phony Black Panther is a white man wearing a life-like mask.

In the ensuing battle with the Sons of the Serpent, Yellowjack and the Wasp shrink down in size and pull off the masks being worn by the two Serpents Supreme. They turn out to be Dan Dunn and Montague Hale. With their identities exposed, they reveal that they were intentionally stoking racial tensions in a bid to seize power of the United States. However, they are quickly defeated by the Black Panther. In the aftermath of the battle, Monica realizes how Montague Hale manipulated her. However, the Black Panther points out to her that even a just cause can go astray with the wrong leader. These words convince Monica to end her career as a singer to become an activist.